An Italian form of Matthew or Matthias, from Hebrew meaning "gift of God."
Mattia is the Italian and Catalan masculine form of Matthew, tracing its lineage back to the Hebrew Mattityahu — a compound of mattath ('gift') and Yahweh ('God'), yielding the resonant meaning 'gift of God.' The name entered European usage through the New Testament apostle Matthew, the tax collector who became an evangelist, and it spread widely through the medieval church calendar. In Italy, the form Mattia took precedence over Matteo in certain regions, carrying the same theological weight in a slightly more archaic dress.
Historically, the name has been borne by figures of quiet distinction. Mattia Preti, the seventeenth-century Baroque painter from Calabria, brought dramatic chiaroscuro canvases to the courts of Malta and Naples, earning the nickname 'Il Cavalier Calabrese.' The name also appears in Pirandello's unsettling 1904 novel Il fu Mattia Pascal, where the protagonist fakes his own death and reinvents himself — a story that made Mattia synonymous in Italian literary culture with questions of identity and self-fashioning.
Today Mattia ranks among the most popular baby names in Italy and has been climbing steadily in Spain and Portugal, reflecting a broader European appetite for names that feel classical yet wearable. Outside southern Europe it remains refreshingly rare, offering an elegant and culturally grounded alternative to the more familiar Matthew or Matthias.