Matthew (name)

Matthew (; ) is a given name that ultimately comes from the Hebrew name Matityahu. Saint Matthew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus in Christian Theology.^[4][5][6][7]

The Hebrew name "מַתִּתְיָהוּ" (Matityahu) was transliterated into Greek to "Ματταθίας" (Mattathias),^[8] which was shortened to "Ματθαῖος" – (Matthaios). Deceptively, it is therefore unrelated to θεῖος (theios) meaning divine (adjective, e.g. theology) or sulfur (Koine noun, e.g. thiol group).^[9] The Greek Ματθαῖος was Latinised as Matthaeus, which became Matthew in English. It is commonly shortened to Matt.

An alternative Greek transliteration, "Ματθίας" (Matthias),^[10] led to the closely related English name Matthias.

The name is also sometimes used as an anglicisation of the Irish name Mathúin, meaning bear.^[11][12]

The name Matthew became popular during the Middle Ages in North-West Europe, and appears in many European languages. The name has been very common throughout the English-speaking world since the 1970s.^[3] Matthew has been one of the 1,000 most popular male names in Australia, Canada and United States. Currently, it is the 15th most popular name in Ireland.^[13][14] In the United Kingdom, it was among the 10 most popular male names through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and was ninth as recently as 2001.^[15]

Translations in other languages

• Afrikaans: Mattheus (Mattie)

• Amharic: ማቴዎስ (Mathewos, Mateos)

• Arabic: متى ‎ (Mattà)

• Aramaic: Mattai‎

• Armenian: Մատթէոս, Մաթևոս (Mat.teos)

• Azerbaijani: Matta, Mətta

• Basque: Mateo

• Belarusian: Мацей (Maciej)

• Bulgarian: Матей (Matej)

• Breton: Mazhev

• Catalan: Mateu

• Chinese: 马修 (simplified) ／馬修 (traditional) (mǎ xiū)

• Croatian: Matej, Matija, Mate, Mato, Matijaš, Matijas

• Czech: Matěj, Matyáš, Matiáš, Mattias, Matouš

• Danish: Mads, Mathias

• Dutch: Matthijs, Mathis, Mathijs, Mattijs, Mattheus, Matthias, Thijs, Ties, Tijs

• English: Matthew, Mathew, Matthias, Matt, Matty, Mattie
• Old English: Mattheus
• Esperanto: Mateo
• Estonian: Madis, Mati
• Finnish: Matias, Matti
• French: Mathieu, Matthieu; Mathias, Matthias; Mathis, Matthis
• ) Mate (მათე
• Galician: Mateu
• German: Matthias, Mathias, Matthäus
• Greek: Ματθαίος (Matthaios, Mattheos)
• Koine Greek: Ματθαῖος (Matthaios, Mattheos)
• Hebrew: מתתיהו ,מתיתיהו ‎ (Matityahu)
• Gujarati: મેથ્યુ (Mēthyu)
• Hindi: मैथ्यू (Maithyū)
• Hungarian: Máté, Mátyás [:MAT-ya:sh:]
• Icelandic: Matthías, Matti
• Indonesian: Matius, Mateus
• Irish: Maitiú, Maitias
• Italian: Matteo, Mattia
• Japanese: マシュー (Mashū), マタイ (Matai)
• Kannada: ಮ್ಯಾಥ್ಯೂ (Myāthyū)
• Khmer: ម៉ាថាយ (Meathay)
• Korean: 매튜 (Maetyu), 마태 (Matae)
• Latin: Matthæus, Matthias
• Latvian: Matīss, Matejs
• Lithuanian: Matas, Motiejus
• Macedonian: Метју (Metju), Матеј (Matej)
• Maltese: Mattew
• Marathi: मॅथ्यू (Mĕthyū)
• Malayalam: മത്തായി (Matthayi)
• Mongolian: Матай (Matai)
• Nepali: मत्ती (Mattī)
• Norwegian: Matias, Mathias, Mattias; Matheus, Matteus; Mats, Mads; Mattis
• Polish: Mateusz, Maciej
• Portuguese: Matias, Mathias (archaic); Mateus, Matheus (archaic)
• Punjabi: ਮੱਤੀ (Matī)
• Romanian: Matei, Matia
• Russian: Матвей (Matvej), Матфей (Matfej)(archaic), Мотя (Motja), Мотка (Motka), Мэтью (Met'yu)
• Serbian: Матија (Matija), Матеја (Matеja)
• Slovak: Matúš, Matej
• Swahili: Matayo
• Scottish Gaelic: Matha, Mata
• Spanish: Matias, Matheo, Mateo, Matejo, Teo
• Swedish: Mats, Mattias, Mathias
• Slovene: Matej, Matevž, Matjaž, Matija
• Turkish: Matta, Mete
• Tamil: மத்தேயு (Mattēyu)
• Telugu: మట్టయ్య(Mattayya)
• Thai: แมทธิว (Mæthṭhiw)
• Ukrainian: Матей (Matej), Матвій (Matvij), Матвійко (Matvijko)
• Venetian: Mateo
• Vietnamese: Mátthêu
• Welsh: Mathew
• Zazaki: Matta
• Zulu: uMathewu

References