# Mates (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/mates/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Hungarian or Catalan.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Hungarian |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 558 |
| US rank (2010) | 39,419 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 553,307 people |
| Change since 2000 | -19.9% (697 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Two main origins: * Borrowed from Hungarian Mátés, a pet form of the personal name Máté. * Borrowed from Catalan Mates, from the plural of mata (“scrub”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Mates in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 82% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 4.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 7.3% |
| Two or more races | 3.2% |

## Similar surnames

Matos, Moats, Matz, Mattos, Matus, Motes, Mattes, Mattis, Mateos, Matis, Matsui, Moates.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.