Matthew

[whatthehelldowecare]

What’s the thoughts on Matthew? I was astounded to see it wasn’t in the top 100. To me it seems perfect, timeless without being old fashioned.. but now I’m wondering why it’s not more popular 😂😂

full disclosure - my 15 month is Matthew so obviously I think it’s perfect, but keen to know others thoughts

I like it, and my kids have similarly classic, sensible names. I’m surprised it’s not in the top 100 in England. Maybe it’s more popular here in Scotland - there are at least three Matthews in our small school of less than 100 pupils and there were two in the same nursery cohort as my eldest.

My two year old is called Matthew so obviously I love it. I was also surprised it's no longer in the top 100. I didn't realise it was at all unusual until I had him and everyone started commenting on it. The midwife was surprised we were using that name and said she'd never delivered a Matthew before.

I don't really like the nickname Matt and never use it. Sometimes people call him Matt and he won't respond to it because nobody calls him that at home and he doesn't know it's supposed to be his name. I do realise he may choose to use that nickname one day though and that's fine.

Lovely, classic, timeless name. Not dated at all.

I don’t know of any young Matthews, but know a lot in mid twenties.

Great name. Unlikely to drop out of use altogether because of the Biblical connection. Mind you, I'd have said that about John and Mark when I was growing up, and they're not as popular now. Luke was quite an out there name when I was a girl - I knew none - and now it's forged ahead of the other Gospels, and other erstwhile popular New Testament names such as Peter, Andrew, Paul, Timothy, Simon and Philip.

I've never met or taught a horrible Matthew and I like it a lot.

I really like it. Solid and classic

I never understand the concept of a “dated” name, apart from the very “of the moment” names. People have been called Matthew for 3000 years….

Lovely name, and one of my favourites

It's because now if you meet someone called Matthew, they are far more likely to be a father themselves than a small child.

Babies are still called Matthew but nowhere near as much as they used to so it does sound dated to some or a ''dad name''. Even in 1996, over 7,000 babies were called Matthew yet only a few hundred now. It has plummeted in popularity.

My Son has Matthew as his middle name.

A name is ‚dated‘ when it’s strongly associated to a particular era, when it was super fashionable.

Sharon, Karen are dated to the 1960s, whereas Matthew is dated to the 1990s.

'Same sort of era'???

I don't recall there being any Ryan's in the bible, written around 2000 years ago.

i love the name

This gave me goosebumps! I hope my little boy’s teachers are saying the same in years to come x

Because if I met a dad and young son and knew their names were Ezra and Matthew but not which way around they were most people would assume the dad was Matthew and the baby was Ezra. Might not be, both names are old, but statistically that’s the most likely way around and what most would assume too. Dating refers to how a name is used in modern times rather than how old a name is. People have been called Matthew for centuries, but in my lifetime, I was at school with countless Matthews but I’ve only met one at baby groups so it feels dated to a generation which isn’t Gen Beta.

I have a Matthew so of course I love it. He goes mostly by his full name. There are far more middle aged Matthews then there are young ones but I think that’s better than being Thomas S. , Thomas N., Thomas P., etc. And nobody ever mishears his name or struggles with it.

I think you might be right.

why does that matter? For the first 3 years of my DD’s life (she’s called Grace) people would have said the same about her and me…..

@CurlewKate Have they?

I think of a dated name as one that was popular at a specific time, and Matthew was very popular in the 1990s, so by that definition it is dated. It hasn't dated badly. The 'of the moment' ones date badly.

My point is that it could easily become undated next week. Like Grace did.

I’m not saying it has to matter. Some people don’t mind dated names, and some do. It matters to me more because dated names are just dull sounding to me because depending on when it’s dated to either I went to school with 5000 of them, or half of my dad’s friend had the name and that makes it dull to me. Other people might not care at all. Just like how some people care about popularity and some don’t. It’s just another piece of information about a name that informs poster’s views when other people ask for opinions on it.

And names don’t become dated or undated in a week! Name trends move very slowly- Grace for example has been in the top hundred from some year between 1985-1993 and the present day! If it falls out of use it it will slowly change from being seen as dated by more and more people (kind of like this thread shows Matthew has). Names come back and tend to cycle through being seen as too old fashioned, then some people ahead of the curve pick it up, then it becomes more widely appealing and it grows and grows in popularity, before being totally mainstream and spiking in popularity, and people get tired of hearing it and the name falls again. Mabel is a recent example. If I started a thread about Mabel some people would say it belongs in a nursing home, some would say it’s lovely, and some would say it’s overdone. As more people start to move through those phases the name will fall again.

It could, but the ones that date badly won't. Matthew is 'safe' because it is a classic. Ryan and Jordan probably won't come back.

Why does it matter? I went through decades of having an unusual dated name that had been popular about 100 years ago. It's now popular again.
'That's my nan's name' isn't a great thing to hear, or 'She's the 50-yr old one, isn't she?' at work when you are 25.

It's lovely OP. Classic, timeless, ancient, classy and a name to be proud of (as opposed to Archie or Hunter etc). Matt is a great nick name too. I think the fact it's not in the top 100 makes it even better. There won't be 10 others in his class at school!

I think it's classic, people say it was big in the 1990's but I was at primary school in the 70's and there were a couple of Mathews in my class. It's not 'trendy' perhaps, but who wants a trendy name? They are the ones that tend to become dated IMO.

I think it sounds weak.