Matthew

A tax collector sitting at his booth in Capernaum looks up, meets a stranger's eyes, and walks away from the coins forever — the gospel that bears Matthew's name opens with a genealogy and closes with the commission to go out into the world. From the Hebrew Mattityahu, "gift of Yahweh," the name has been steady in English use since the Middle Ages and dominant in American life since the 1970s. It now sits at rank 33. Two syllables, a gentle TH at the center, and an ease with its own formality — Matt for the schoolyard, Matthew for the diploma. Vintage without feeling dusty.