Humanverse

Matie vs Matthew

American parents have registered 1,659,655 Matthews since 1880, against 579 Maties. Matthew is still ahead, with 7,008 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Matie against Matthew, 1880 to 2025 0 15k 30k 45k 60k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Matie Matthew

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Matthew has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1890, when Matie had 26 and Matthew had 86.

Side by side

  Matie Matthew
Total US births 5791,659,655
Most in one year 2650,526
Babies in 2025 under 57,008
Estimated living today 81.5 million
Median age today 1636
Peak year 18841983
Best rank 391st girls3rd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked32nd
First recorded 18801880
Girls / boys 579 / 05,580 / 1,654,075

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Matthews alive today are over 36; half the Maties are over 16. That is 20 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Matie and Matthew.