Variant spelling of Matthew, from Hebrew meaning gift of God.
Mattew is a variant spelling of Matthew, one of the great apostolic names of Christian tradition. The original is the Hebrew Mattityahu — "Mattan" (gift) combined with "Yah" (a shortened form of the divine name Yahweh) — yielding the meaning "gift of God." Through Greek as Matthaios and Latin as Matthaeus, the name became Matthew in English, where it has been among the most consistently popular given names for over a millennium.
Mattew strips away the double-t of the standard spelling, a simplification that can reflect regional phonetics or a deliberate choice to individualize a thoroughly familiar name. The Gospel of Matthew, first in the New Testament canon, attributes its authorship to the apostle Levi, a tax collector called by Jesus and renamed Matthew. Whether historically accurate or not, this origin story gave the name enormous spiritual prestige throughout medieval Christendom.
Saints' days, cathedral dedications, and royal namings proliferated. Among the secular famous: Cardinal Wolsey's given name, the painter Matthias Grünewald, and in the modern era Matthew McConaughey and Matt Damon — suggesting the name travels comfortably from gravitas to charm. The Mattew spelling, while unconventional, preserves every syllable and all the name's weight. Children bearing it grow up explaining the single-t, which in practice becomes a small signature — a detail that distinguishes them from the Matthews around them without ever making them feel like outsiders to the name's long and venerable history.