Matias

The defining biblical bearer is Saint Matthias, the apostle chosen by lot in Acts 1 to replace Judas Iscariot among the 12.

Tradition holds that he preached in Cappadocia and Ethiopia before being martyred, with relics venerated at the Abbey of Saint Matthias in Trier, Germany, the only known apostolic burial site north of the Alps.

His feast is celebrated on 14 May in the Roman Catholic calendar and 9 August in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Another notable bearer is Mattathias the Hasmonean, the priest whose 167 BCE revolt against Seleucid rule launched the Maccabean dynasty.

The name has flourished in Latin America, Iberia, and the Nordic countries.

Argentine football has produced Matías Almeyda and Matías Fernandez; Finnish history records the architect Matias Åkerblom; and Spanish letters include the poet Matías Montes Huidobro.

The name also appears in the films of Pedro Almodóvar and in works of magical realism by writers such as Matías Gutérrez Nájera of Mexico.

Matias entered the US SSA top 1000 in 2008 and has climbed steadily, breaking the top 300 by the early 2020s as Spanish-heritage names gained mainstream traction.

It is pronounced mah-TEE-as in Spanish and Portuguese and MAH-tee-as in Finnish, with the accented form Matías dominant in Latin America.

Argentine pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio) has indirectly raised the visibility of Argentine names, of which Matias is among the most enduring.