Matti

Meaning of Matti

Matti, a unisex appellation tracing its lineage to the Hebrew Matityahu via the Greek Matthaios and Latin Matthaeus, semantically denotes “gift of God” and occupies a distinct niche in both Scandinavian and Finnic onomastic traditions. In Swedish usage it appears as Matti (IPA: /ˈmati/), while in Finnish and Italian it is likewise rendered MAH-TEE (IPA: /ˈmɑt.i/), reflecting a remarkable phonological consistency across these languages. Analytically, the name’s penetration into the United States has been modest yet persistent since the early 1980s, when it first registered six occurrences (rank 781) in 1980; it peaked briefly in rank during 1983 with five registrations (rank 771) before settling into an oscillatory pattern of single‐ to low‐double‐digit births per year. Over the past five years, annual tallies have hovered between nine and fourteen occurrences—ten births (rank 940) in 2024 and fourteen births (rank 944) in 2023—underscoring Matti’s status as a deliberately chosen, culturally resonant option for anglophone parents drawn to its technical elegance and Nordic heritage.