The Baby Name Wizard

Reader Contributions

Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Matthew!

Comments and insights on the name Matthew: | Edit

I love this name for a boy! Matthew sounds like an all- American name, maybe a star football player...

Personal experiences with the name Matthew: | Edit

My husband's name is Matthew. I am trying to convince him to at least make our son's (if we have one when we try) middle name Matthew. He's not having it.

But I will say that I believe most of a person's personality comes from their name. Give or take if the child is raised to be who they are, and not what the parent wants them to be.
With that, my husband (and others that i know who have same names) and other Matt's are very smart, old fashioned, creative....flat out genius.

My baby brother is named Matthew, and it is the least creative name in my family. My brother, however, is not just another Matt. In fact, I seem to know a lot of Matts who are not just another Matt. I think it is a name that transitions well from childhood into adulthood, and is hard not to like. When you have a Matthew, you are guaranteed that your child will bring character to his name, not the other way around. One quality I do like about it is that it goes well with sibling names, regardless of how unusual (or usual) they are.

My name is Matthew and I was born in the late 1970s. I actually never thought much about my name, which may or may not be a good thing. It mildly annoyed me that there were always several "Matts" in any class or group I was in. Then again, there was never anything unusual or odd about my name. To distinguish between me and the hundreds of other Matts running around, I was always referred to by my full name; my last name is a difficult-to-pronounce ethnic name so I heard every possible mis-pronounciation of my surname. As an adult, I do appreciate the "adult" sound to Matthew; it grew up well. It doesn't bring as much weighty significance as other names, but it does the trick.

Nicknames for Matthew: | Edit

Matt
Matty/Mattie
Math
Mathias
Mattikin

Meanings and history of the name Matthew: | Edit

Matthew was one of the twelve apostles in the Bible, originally a tax collector who gave up his profession to follow the teachings of Jesus.

Famous real-life people named Matthew: | Edit

Matthew Broderick, actor
Matthew Bellamy, lead singer of the band Muse
Matthew McConaughey, actor
Matthew Arnold, British Victorian poet and essayist
Matt Ryan, NFL quarterback
Matthew Gray Gubler, actor
Matthew Stafford, American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions.
Not cool

Matthew in song, story & screen: | Edit

One of the four gospels and one of the twelve disciples in the Bible
Matt Dillon, "Gunsmoke" character
Matt Camden, a character in the TV series "7th Heaven"
"Matthew & Son" a song by Cat Stevens