Mateo
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Meaning
gift of God
The story
Mateo is the Spanish form of Matthew, the old Hebrew "gift of God" carried through Greek and Latin, and right now the gift is being opened everywhere at once. In Spain, Mateo has just become the name most often given to newborn boys, its first time at the top of that yearly list, and in the United States it now sits among the top ten for new arrivals. Spain has long kept a week for it: Logroño's Fiestas de San Mateo, around the apostle's September day, double as the Rioja grape-harvest festival, the name and the wine pressed together. The one holdout is Portuguese: Brazil overwhelmingly writes the name Mateus or Matheus, keeping the Spanish o rare and distinctive there. A biblical gift, a Rioja toast, and a moment happening on two continents at once, spelled slightly differently in each.
Mateo across languages
One shared root links 9 names across 6 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Mattityahu "gift of Yahweh", via Greek Matthaios
The constellation
More branches
On record since at least 1547: Mateo Alemán, novelist.
How popular is Mateo around the world?
In the United States, 62,327 babies were named Mateo between 2020 and 2025. In Chile, 3,272 boys were registered as Mateo in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
Mateo is on the official records of the United States, Chile, Montevideo, Argentina, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Norway, Spain, Austria, Canada, New South Wales, New Zealand, England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, South Australia, Poland and Brazil.
Mateo crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of an English-speaking birth record and of a Spanish-speaking one. The full list: English and Spanish
United States
1 in 350
In the United States, 62,327 babies were named Mateo between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Mateo peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Chile
1 in 54
In Chile, 3,272 boys were registered as Mateo in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Montevideo City
1 in 622011
In Montevideo, 397 boys named Mateo were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Argentina
1 in 84
In Argentina, 7,907 newborns were given the name Mateo in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Mexico City City
1 in 85
In Mexico City, there were 1,389 registrations of Mateo in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (54 registrations through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Puerto Rico
1 in 130
In Puerto Rico, 144 babies were named Mateo in 2025, and 2,260 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Norway
1 in 360register 2026
In Norway, 77 boys were given the name Mateo in 2025.
share of the boys on the register for that year, SSB’s own figure
People who have or have had a Norwegian ID number, emigrants left out, from Statistics Norway’s name statistics (release of January 2026): by year of birth for 1945–2020 (everyone born that year who was ever registered in Norway, including people who registered later and people who have since died) and by year of naming from 2021; only first names carried by 200 or more living people are listed, counts under 4 are withheld, and SSB merges spellings that differ only by letters outside the Norwegian alphabet. The shares are SSB’s own, of the people of that sex and year in that count; the 2025 figure counts the children named that year, and no year is a count of births. Source: Statistics Norway (SSB), table 10467 (updated 2026-01-28)
Spain
#1 · 2024
In Spain, 54,981 residents are named Mateo, the 76th most common name among men, with a mean age of 15.5 years.
In Spain, Mateo was the 1st most common name among boys born in 2024.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Austria
1 in 420
In Austria, 180 boys named Mateo were born in 2025, the 46th most common name among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Canada
1 in 790
In Canada, 464 boys named Mateo were born in 2024, the 52nd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
New South Wales
#65 · 2025
In New South Wales, 124 boys named Mateo were registered in 2025, ranked 65th in that year’s top 100 for boys.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
New Zealand
1 in 1,300
In New Zealand, 46 boys named Mateo were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
England and Wales
1 in 1,800
In England and Wales, 328 boys named Mateo were born in 2025, the 160th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
1 in 1,800
In Ireland, 30 boys named Mateo were born in 2025, the 165th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Scotland
1 in 3,500
In Scotland, 13 boys named Mateo were registered in 2024, the 290th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
France
1 in 4,800
In France, about 135 boys named Mateo were born in 2025, the 368th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Mateo, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
South Australia
1 in 6,1002017
In South Australia, 3 boys were registered as Mateo in 2017.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Poland
1 in 14,000
In Poland, 18 boys named Mateo were born in 2025, the 265th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Mateo, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Brazil
1 in 110,000
At the 2022 census, 1,840 people in Brazil were named Mateo, ranked 5,408th, with a median age of 3.
Among people named Mateo living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 1,051 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Mateo
Most people given the name Mateo in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Where Mateo travels
Mexican American · gift of God (Spanish form of Matthew); one of the fastest-rising names in Mexican-American families today
Castilian · a current Spain top-5 boys' name
Global crossover · gift of God (Spanish form of Matthew); a top-5 name in Spain and one of the fastest-rising names in the US
Keep exploring
Names like Mateo · Names that go with Mateo · Middle names for Mateo · Spanish baby names from Spain · Global crossover names · Spanish baby names · Mexican American baby names
The Mateo deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Mateo truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Mateo fits with your family’s names and surname.
Questions about Mateo
What middle names go with Mateo?
Juan (a single beat to anchor Mateo's 3), Cruz (a single beat to anchor Mateo's 3), and Heriberto (4 beats to Mateo's 3, so the pair keeps its rhythm). The full list, each pairing with its reason, is on the middle names page for Mateo.
Is Mateo too popular right now?
Mateo is very common right now and still rising. In US Social Security records since 1890, its score for the 2020s is 8 out of 10, up from 1 in the 2000s. The 2020s are its peak so far. The published lists, which carry a name only once at least five boys a year receive it, first show it in the 1900s; its biggest decade before the 2000s was the 1990s, with 2,010 boys.
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