Matilda
Top 1000
About Matilda
Matilda is a sweet vintage name that has been gently climbing the popularity list for the past 15 years, after a half-century slumber. The spunky children's book heroine Matilda is one factor in its rise, along with others of its class like Eloise and Caspian.
The comeback of Matilda, one of the most stylish girls' names starting with M, has been prompted by a boomlet of starbaby Matildas, beginning with chef Gordon Ramsey's in 2002 and Moon Unit Zappa's two years later. But the renaissance of this name of the charming Roald Dahl heroine was assured when Michelle Williams and the late Heath Ledger chose Matilda for their daughter.
Matilda was introduced to the English-speaking world by the eleventh century Matilda of Flanders, queen of William the Conqueror, then used for his granddaughter, known as Maud. In literature, Matilda appeared in Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby. Trivia tidbit: The Matilda in the Australian song 'Waltzing Matilda' refers not to a person but to the knapsacks that swing, or waltz, on the backs of itinerant laborers as they walk along.
Highly popular in England and Australia, Matilda has a choice of great nicknames: Tillie for the bold, Mattie for the shy, Tilda for the slightly more eccentric, such as Tilda Swinton, born Katherine Matilda.
Molly Ringwald used the spelling Mathilda for her daughter.
Pronounced muh-TIL-duh.
As of October 2026, Matilda ranked #365 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #101 in 1880, Nameberry popularity #86.
Editor's take: The name Matilda is a girl's name of German origin meaning "battle-mighty".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #582 | 523 | 292.8 |
| 2015 | #536 | 583 | 326.6 |
| 2016 | #496 | 631 | 356.1 |
| 2017 | #522 | 599 | 347 |
| 2018 | #489 | 643 | 378 |
| 2019 | #448 | 696 | 414.7 |
| 2020 | #478 | 639 | 395.3 |
| 2021 | #465 | 673 | 410.2 |
| 2022 | #417 | 758 | 462.2 |
| 2023 | #438 | 708 | 441.2 |
| 2024 | #410 | 769 | 474.6 |
| 2025 | #365 | 838 | 521.4 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Matilda.
- Beatrice
- Florence
- Mabel
- Josephine
- Edith
- Penelope
- Margot
- Elanore
- Ada
- Harriet
- Louisa
- Phoebe
- Clementine
- Frances
- Louise
- Flora
- Jane
- Esther
- Siggy
- June
Matilda on lists
Famous Matildas
- Saint Matilda of Ringelheim
Queen consort of Henry the Fowler of Germany
- Matilda of Flanders
Queen consort of William the Conqueror
- Matilda of Scotland
Queen consort of Henry I of England
- Matilda
Holy Roman Empress consort of Henry V; daughter of Henry I and Matilda of Scotland; claimant to the English throne
- Matilda of Boulogne
Queen consort of Stephen of England
- Matilda of Savoy
Queen consort of Afonso Henriques of Portugal
- Matilda of Holstein
Queen consort of Abel of Denmark
- Matilda of England
Duchess of Saxony and of Bavaria; daughter of Henry II
- Matilda of Tuscany
Italian feudal ruler and military leader
- Matilda FitzRoy
several illegitimate daughters of Henry I of England
- Matilda Electa Joslyn Gage
American suffragist
- Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz
Italian model and actress
- Matilda Anne Mackarness
English novelist
- Matilda Agnes Heron
American stage actress
- Mary Matilda Betham
English diarist and painter
- Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones
American operatic soprano
- Matilda Sturridge
English actress; sister of actor Tom Sturridge
- Matilda Mecini
Miss Albania 2008
- Matilda Coxe Stevenson
American ethnologist and author
- Matilda Moldenhauer Brooks
American biologist who studied carbon monoxide
- Matilda Lowther
British model
- Matilda "Tilly" Keeper
English actress
- Matilda Mary "Tilly" Devine
English,Australian gangster and folk figure
- Matilda Emily "Tilly" Bagshawe
English novelist
- Matilda Shapland
English actress
- Katherine Matilda "Tilda" Swinton
Anglo,Scottish actress
- Matilda Brown
Australian actress; daughter of actress Rachel Ward
- Matilda Kerwin (b. 1993)
daughter of actor Brian Kerwin
- Matilda Violet Roche (b. 1998)
daughter of actress Nell Campbell and Eamonn Roche
- Matilda "Tilly" Ramsay (b. 2001)
daughter of TV chef Gordon Ramsay
- Matilda Cole (b. 2002)
daughter of actress Kate Isitt and director Nigel Cole
- Matilda Louise Henricks (b. 2002)
daughter of singer Zia McCabe of The Dandy Warhols and Travis Henricks
- Matilda Rose Ledger (b. 2005)
daughter of actors Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams
- Matilda Martha Thykier (b. 2006)
daughter of TV presenter Claudia Winkleman and Kris Thykier
- Matilda Clutterbuck
daughter of actor Andrew Lincoln
- Matilda Lily Nora Darling (b. 2008)
daughter of actress Kaye Wragg and Jamie Darling
- Matilda Kewell (b. 2008)
daughter of actress Sheree Murphy and footballer Harry Kewell
- Matilda Bethany Sidwell (b. 2009)
daughter of actor Aaron Sidwell
- Matilda Belle Pegg (b. 2009)
daughter of actor Simon Pegg
- Matilda Francis (b. 2009)
daughter of actor/comedian Leigh Francis
- Matilda Beau Albrighton (b. 2012)
daughter of footballer Marc Albrighton
- Matilda Smith (b. 2013)
daughter of rugby player Cameron Smith
- Matilda Vettel (b. 2015)
daughter of racing driver Sebastian Vettel
- Matilda Jessica Sinclair (b. 2015)
daughter of actress Helen Flanagan and footballer Scott Sinclair
- Matilda Joanne Adams (b. 2016)
daughter of TV presenter Amelia Adams
- Matilda (b. 2018)
daughter of supermodel David Gandy
Matilda in pop culture
- Matilda Wormwood
main character in Roald Dahl's "Matilda"
- Matilda
a house robot on TV's "Robot Wars"
- Matilda Santiago
character in movie "Elysium"
- Matilda Harriet Jane "Mattie" Hunter
character on Australian soap "Home and Away"
- Matilda "Tilda" Price Browdie
character in Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby"
- Matilda
character in "A Waltz for Matilda" by Jackie French
- Matilda "Mattie" Cook
character in Laurie Halse Anderson's "Fever 1793""
- Matilda
character in British comic strip "Dennis & Gnasher"
- Matilda Angelina Araminta Phelps
Tom Sawyer's baby cousin in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Matilda "Miss Matty" Jenkys
character on TV's Cranford
- Matilda
a character in Horace Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto"
- Matilda "Mattie" Ashby
character on American soap "The Young and the Restless"
- Matilda "Tillie" Binks
character in film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"
- Matilda "Matty" Webber
character on TV's "MacGyver"
- The Matildas
Australian Women's National Football (Soccer) Team
- "Matilda
" 1978 comedy about a boxing kangaroo
- "Matilda
" song by Harry Belafonte
- "Matilda
" song by British band Alt,J
- "Matilda
" song by British band Little Comets
- "Waltzing Matilda
" Australian popular song
- Matilda McDuck
aunt of Donald Duck