Matthew
A biblical surname from the given name Matthew, meaning “gift of Jehovah.”
The #5,408 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 47,972 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Matthew comes from the biblical personal name, ultimately from Hebrew Mattathiah, built from mattath “gift” and a divine element meaning “of Yahweh.” The name passed into Greek and Latin through the New Testament tradition, then into English as Matthew. As a surname, it usually began as a patronymic, identifying someone as the son or descendant of a man named Matthew.
History
The name was brought into England after the Conquest and became common enough to generate many surnames and variants. The historical sources here note forms such as Mathews, Matthewson, Matthie, Mathieson, Matson, Mayhew, Mayo, Matts, Matty, and Maddy. Older writers also mention related regional or occupational-looking forms such as Matthewman, though those may reflect local naming patterns rather than a single fixed origin for every bearer.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical source says Matthew even became the basis of the unrelated-looking surname Mayhew, showing how far medieval nickname forms could drift.
From the historical record
“MATTHEY j MATTHEW (A. - Lat. -Gr. -Heb.) Gift of Jehovah [Lat. Matthaus, Matthias, Gr. MarSaios, MarBlas, Heb. Mattathidh — mattath, a gift -f ydh, abbrev. of Jehdvdhi Mat(t)hew is used as an Anglicization of Mahon, q.v. MATTHEWS, Matthew's (Son) \ v. MATTHEWSON,Matthew'sSon; Matthew MATTHIAS, V. Matthew.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)