Matthew Family History

English and Scottish: from the Middle English personal name Ma(t)thew a vernacular form of the Greek New Testament name Matthias Matthaios which is ultimately from the Hebrew personal name Matityahu ‘gift of God’. This was taken into Latin as Mat(t)hias and Matthaeus respectively the former being used for the twelfth apostle (who replaced Judas Iscariot) and the latter for the author of the first Gospel.

In many European languages this distinction is reflected in different name forms. The commonest vernacular forms of the personal name including English Matthew Old French Matheu Spanish Mateo Italian Matteo Portuguese Mateus Catalan and Occitan Mateu are generally derived from the form Matthaeus.

In North America the English form of the surname has absorbed cognates from other languages including German Matthias Greek Mathias and Mattheos Assyrian/Chaldean Matti Czech Matěj Slovak Croatian and Slovenian Matej.

The name Matthew is also found among Christians in southern India (compare Mathai) but since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames the southern Indian name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.

Compare Mathew see also Matthews.