Matthew
Name Origin & Meaning
From the Hebrew 'Mattityahu' (gift of Yah), a compound of 'mattan' (gift) and 'Yah' (Yahweh). The name declares that the one who bears it is a divine gift to the world. Matthew the tax collector was perhaps the most unlikely gift — scorned as a traitor and collaborator with Rome — yet his two-word response to Jesus' 'Follow me' produced the first and most used of the four gospels.
First Biblical Appearance
“And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.”
Jesus' call of Matthew from the tax booth — the simplest and most complete act of discipleship in Scripture.
Biblical Significance
Matthew (also called Levi) was a tax collector at Capernaum who left everything at Jesus' call and threw a great feast to introduce his disreputable friends to Jesus. He wrote the Gospel of Matthew, the most Jewish of the four gospels, structured around five great discourses and beginning with Abraham's genealogy. He is the patron saint of accountants and bankers. Tradition holds he was martyred in Ethiopia.
Notable Bearers
- Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist
Personality & Character
Universal compassion and wisdom — the number of divine love reaching to the ends of the earth
Spiritual symbolism drawn from Scripture and tradition
Modern Variants
A Blessing for This Name
May you, like Matthew, arise and follow immediately when Jesus calls — leaving behind whatever you have been sitting at that has defined you. May the gift that God says you are find its greatest expression in telling others the story of the One who called you by name.