Primarily a boy's name · 100% boys
Origin: SpanishMateo is a masculine given name, a form of Matthew used in Spanish and Croatian, similar to the Italian form Matteo.
From Wikipedia
In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Mateo yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.
Mateo is the fastest-moving name in this batch relative to its size: a 202% rise over the past decade, second only to Theodore's growth rate, taking it from a niche choice to #7 nationally with 11,302 births in 2024, its highest count on record.
It first appears in SSA data in 1904 but stayed a minor presence for most of the following century, meaning almost all of its current volume has arrived in the last twenty years. That makes Mateo one of the more recent additions to the top ten by total-history standards, alongside Ezra.
Its famous bearers are almost entirely contemporary and international — footballers Mateo Kovačić and Mateo Retegui, both active professionals rather than historical figures — a contrast with names like James or William whose namesake lists stretch back centuries. That skew toward recent, globally visible figures fits a name whose US popularity is itself a recent development tied to broader interest in Spanish-language names.
Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.
→ See names similar to Mateo · Compare Mateo with another name → · Popular names of the 2020s · Boys names starting with M
Rank is among all boys' names registered that year.
| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1904 | 5 | #1,333 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,176 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,039 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,130 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,015 |
| 1918 | 12 | #2,484 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,223 |
| 1920 | 25 | #1,533 |
| 1921 | 8 | #3,398 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,110 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,193 |
| 1924 | 18 | #1,943 |
| 1925 | 12 | #2,541 |
| 1926 | 17 | #1,957 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,098 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,777 |
| 1929 | 25 | #1,468 |
| 1930 | 18 | #1,793 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,420 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,412 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,207 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,204 |
| 1936 | 8 | #2,780 |
| 1937 | 6 | #3,388 |
| 1938 | 13 | #2,063 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,250 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,151 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,287 |
| 1942 | 8 | #2,861 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,048 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,778 |
| 1945 | 13 | #1,985 |
| 1946 | 14 | #1,998 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,800 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,401 |
| 1949 | 12 | #2,298 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,082 |
| 1951 | 10 | #2,596 |
| 1952 | 9 | #2,809 |
| 1953 | 16 | #2,010 |
| 1955 | 14 | #2,196 |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,062 |
| 1957 | 13 | #2,344 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,469 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,018 |
| 1960 | 14 | #2,276 |
| 1961 | 14 | #2,300 |
| 1964 | 11 | #2,619 |
| 1966 | 11 | #2,573 |
| 1967 | 13 | #2,310 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,534 |
| 1969 | 27 | #1,590 |
| 1970 | 19 | #2,102 |
| 1971 | 18 | #2,245 |
| 1972 | 28 | #1,668 |
| 1973 | 23 | #1,909 |
| 1974 | 26 | #1,818 |
| 1975 | 42 | #1,353 |
| 1976 | 24 | #2,035 |
| 1977 | 36 | #1,562 |
| 1978 | 38 | #1,521 |
| 1979 | 31 | #1,815 |
| 1980 | 22 | #2,335 |
| 1981 | 30 | #1,885 |
| 1982 | 34 | #1,723 |
| 1983 | 45 | #1,415 |
| 1984 | 42 | #1,497 |
| 1985 | 46 | #1,465 |
| 1986 | 21 | #2,578 |
| 1987 | 38 | #1,746 |
| 1988 | 40 | #1,756 |
| 1989 | 52 | #1,560 |
| 1990 | 56 | #1,525 |
| 1991 | 65 | #1,419 |
| 1992 | 60 | #1,507 |
| 1993 | 64 | #1,467 |
| 1994 | 83 | #1,286 |
| 1995 | 125 | #996 |
| 1996 | 231 | #697 |
| 1997 | 340 | #560 |
| 1998 | 409 | #513 |
| 1999 | 577 | #409 |
| 2000 | 572 | #428 |
| 2001 | 727 | #367 |
| 2002 | 766 | #354 |
| 2003 | 876 | #331 |
| 2004 | 961 | #320 |
| 2005 | 1,089 | #302 |
| 2006 | 1,270 | #273 |
| 2007 | 1,227 | #281 |
| 2008 | 1,408 | #249 |
| 2009 | 1,594 | #229 |
| 2010 | 1,624 | #222 |
| 2011 | 2,204 | #171 |
| 2012 | 2,840 | #137 |
| 2013 | 3,588 | #109 |
| 2014 | 3,743 | #106 |
| 2015 | 5,029 | #85 |
| 2016 | 6,558 | #59 |
| 2017 | 7,774 | #42 |
| 2018 | 8,221 | #37 |
| 2019 | 9,019 | #26 |
| 2020 | 9,004 | #20 |
| 2021 | 9,177 | #15 |
| 2022 | 10,389 | #11 |
| 2023 | 11,279 | #6 |
| 2024 | 11,302 | #7 |
