Given name & surname · also Hungarian
Mates
“scrub”
Mates is a surname from Hungarian, ultimately from Catalan. It is used in English and Czech.
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Mates comes from Hungarian, and ultimately from Catalan.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In Czech usage, Mates is a diminutive of Matěj. In English usage, Mates as a surname developed from Máté.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2016. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Mates through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 16
- 16 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2017
- 6 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 6 in 2017. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 696 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Mates’s family of names
In Czech usage, Mates is a diminutive of Matěj. In English usage, Mates as a surname developed from Máté. In Greek usage, Mates as a surname is a transliteration of Μάτες.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Mates has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its Catalan roots to each of them.
4 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 3
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
Similar names
If you love Mates, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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Kepa
“as solid as a stone”
>99% boys
Casanova
“house” · “new”
>99% boys