German form of Matthew, from Hebrew Mattityahu meaning 'gift of God.'
Matthaus is the German form of Matthew, one of the New Testament's most enduring names, derived from the Hebrew Mattityahu (מַתִּתְיָהוּ), a compound of mattana (gift) and Yahweh (God), yielding the meaning "gift of God." The name entered Europe through the Greek Matthaios and Latin Matthaeus and then spread through every language of Christendom as the author of the first gospel became a central figure of medieval devotion. In German-speaking lands, the form Matthäus (and its simplified modern variant Matthaus) was the standard rendering for centuries, heard from the Alpine valleys of Bavaria and Austria to the trading cities of the Hanseatic north.
The name carries extraordinary musical resonance. Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion), composed around 1727 and widely considered one of the greatest choral works in the Western canon, set the Gospel of Matthew to music of overwhelming emotional power.
The work virtually ensured that Matthäus would be associated in German culture with grandeur, spiritual depth, and the capacity of music to illuminate scripture. Bach himself gave the name to one of his sons, Johann Matthias Bach, and the name echoed through musical families across the German baroque period. In the modern era, Matthaus gained fresh global recognition through the German football legend Lothar Matthäus, the midfielder who captained West Germany to the 1990 World Cup and was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1991 — a career of such sustained excellence that his name became synonymous with competitive greatness across multiple decades. The simplified spelling Matthaus has found growing favor outside German-speaking countries, appealing to parents who want the name's full historical weight while keeping its orthography accessible.