(male) English form of the name of the Christian evangelist, author of the first gospel in the New Testament. His name is a form of the Hebrew name Mattathia, meaning ‘gift of God’, which is fairly common in the Old Testament, being rendered in the Authorized Version in a number of different forms: Mattan(i)ah, Mattatha(h), Mattithiah, Mattathias, and so on. In the Authorized Version, the evangelist is regularly referred to as Matthew, while the apostle chosen to replace Judas Iscariot is distinguished as Matthias. A related name from the same Hebrew roots, but reversed, is Jonathan. Throughout the English-speaking world Matthew has been particularly popular since the 1970s.
Variant: Mathew.
Short form: Matt.
Cognates: (also of Matthias): Irish: Maitiú, Maitias. Scottish Gaelic: Mata; Matha (a dialectal variant). German: Matthäus. Dutch: Matthijs. Danish: Mads, Mathies. Norwegian, Swedish: Mats. French: Mathieu. Spanish: Mateo. Catalan: Mateu. Portuguese: Mateus. Italian: Matteo, Mattia. Russian: Matvei. Polish: Mateusz, Maciej. Czech: Matěj, Matyáš. Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian: Matija. Finnish: Matti. Hungarian: Mátyás, Máté.
