Matityahu

Matityahu is the Hebrew source behind Matthew, meaning gift of God, carried most famously by Matityahu the priest whose sons led the Maccabean revolt celebrated each Hanukkah. Four unhurried syllables give the name a processional quality, each vowel opening into the next like rooms in an old house. Where Matthew has been polished to near-invisibility by centuries of Christian use, Matityahu keeps the full architecture of the Hebrew, unclipped and unashamed. It is most at home in observant households and modern Israeli families who prefer originals to translations. A name of considerable length and considerable meaning. Patient, devotional, grand.