Mathes
A shortened German surname from Matthias, ultimately the biblical name Matthew.
The #5,319 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 47,115 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mathes is a shortened form of the personal name Matthias, a German and Latin form of the biblical name Matthew. The underlying name goes back through Greek and Latin to Hebrew Mattityahu, meaning roughly “gift of God.” In German naming practice, Matthias was often clipped to forms such as Matheis, Mathes, and related spellings.
History
The surname appears in German-speaking areas as one of several clipped and shortened forms built from Matthias. Historical onomastic works group Mathes with Matheis, Matthes, and similar variants, showing how the same base name could produce many regional spellings. In North America, it likely arrived through German immigration and later stabilized in the modern form Mathes.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname scholars often treated Mathes as one of several interchangeable German reductions of Matthias, alongside forms that look quite different at first glance.
From the historical record
“Aus diesen mannigfach gekürzten und umgewandelten Taufnaraen ist nun eine verhältnismäßig bedeutende Zahl Familiennamen erwachsen, teils mit einer Kürzung am Ende: Mdihies und Mathes^ teils mit einer solchen am Anfang: Alexander — Xander. Vielfach treten an demselben Namen wechselnd beide Erscheinungen hervor, wie…”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen