Matisyahu is the Hebrew form of Matthew, meaning 'gift of Yahweh' or 'gift of God.'
Matisyahu is the original Hebrew form of the name that became Matthew in English — מַתִּתְיָהוּ (Mattityahu), meaning 'gift of God' or 'gift of Yahweh,' built from מַתָּת (mattat, 'gift') and יָהּ (Yah, a shortened form of the divine name YHWH). It is a name of extraordinary biblical depth: Mattathias was the father of the Maccabees, the priestly family who led the Jewish revolt against Seleucid Greek rule in the 2nd century BCE — a revolt commemorated every year in the festival of Hanukkah. The name thus stands at the very heart of Jewish resistance, survival, and religious identity.
In the New Testament, Matthew (the Hellenized form) was the tax collector called by Jesus to become one of the twelve apostles, and the attributed author of the Gospel of Matthew — one of the most read texts in human history. The name traveled through Syriac, Latin, Greek, and every European vernacular, becoming Matteo in Italian, Mathieu in French, Mattias in Swedish, and eventually the ubiquitous English Matthew. Throughout this long migration, Matisyahu remained the version closest to the original Hebrew, used within traditional Jewish communities as the liturgical and official form of the name.
In the early 21st century, Matisyahu gained remarkable cultural visibility through the American Jewish reggae musician who performs under that name — a Hasidic-identified artist who brought together Jamaican musical traditions, Kabbalistic mysticism, and mainstream pop audiences in an unlikely and celebrated fusion. His success introduced Matisyahu to audiences far beyond observant Jewish communities, reframing it as a name that could be simultaneously ancient and boldly contemporary.