Matthias
Meaning
"gift of God"
The story
Matthias enters the New Testament at a moment of absence. After Judas was gone, the remaining apostles needed to restore their number to twelve. They prayed, cast lots between two candidates, and the lot fell to Matthias. He joined the story not through a speech or miracle but through selection, a quiet role that made his name a symbol of being called when a place must be filled. Matthias is the Greek form of a Hebrew name meaning “gift of God,” part of the enormous family that includes Matthew, Mateo, and Matteo. Unlike those cousins, it keeps the full Greek ending, which gives the name a scholarly, almost monastic air. The formal shape still shortens easily in family life, and it crosses European languages with little strain. Its American use has risen gradually, but the count is not the plot. The plot is a waiting candidate, a community in need, and a name about a gift arriving at exactly the moment an empty place had to be restored.
Matthias around the world
One shared root links 8 names across 5 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Mattityahu "gift of Yahweh", via Greek Matthaios
The constellation
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Matthias peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
145 people · the #31,820 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 11
Among people named Matthias living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 43 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Matthias
Most people given the name Matthias 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.
The Matthias deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Matthias 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 Matthias fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Matthias fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Matthias to your family’s tree →