See the results of this poll: How would you pronounce Mathias?
Respondents: 81 (This poll is closed)
- mah-TYE-us : 8 (10%)
- mah-TEE-us : 23 (28%)
- mah-THYE-us : 45 (56%)
- Other: 5 (6%)
[name_m]Math[/name_m] - I -is
only ever heard it as Tee in the middle
However…
[name_f]My[/name_f] first instinct would be Ma-thigh-us, but I would second guess myself and go with Ma-tee-us. I feel like that’s the more “traditional” pronunciation, whereas my initial Ma-thigh-us is more native to the US. I’ll be honest, though, I’ve never heard Ma-tye-us at all.
I have always said Muh-TEE-us but I think if you wanted Muh-[name_m]TYE[/name_m]-us it wouldn’t be too hard to enforce.
I have never heard Muh-THIGH-us and I think the name loses it’s beauty when pronounced that way.
I’ve only heard it pronounced Ma-tee-us, and I know a little boy whose name is [name_m]Matthias[/name_m] as well. I much prefer the mah-tee-us pronunciation, and also the spelling with two t’s, I’ve never seen it with only one t.
I have always said math-ee-us. Maybe it is just me being strangely English or something 
[name_m]Even[/name_m] though it’s technically incorrect, I (can’t help but automatically) say [name_m]Mathias[/name_m]/[name_m]Matthias[/name_m] as either mah-THIE-ahs or mah-TIE-ahs; [name_m]Mattias[/name_m] would be a much more definite mah-TEE-ahs for me.
In European countries, I imagine mah-TEE-ahs would be the only option, however, in English (as first language) speaking countries I don’t think it would be too hard at all to enforce mah-TIE-ahs or mah-THIE-ahs, as I would assume over half the people you’d come across would do so anyway.
I have an uncle [name_m]Mathias[/name_m] and we pronounce it Ma-Thigh-us.
mah-TEE-ahs
I’m an English speaker and have studied Biblical names for years so the name [name_m]Matthias[/name_m]/[name_m]Mathias[/name_m] is pronounced “THYE” for me. However, if I knew someone was [name_m]German[/name_m], I would automatically pronounce it “TEE” because I know that’s the way it’s pronounced in that language. I’ve never heard the “[name_m]TYE[/name_m]” pronunciation.
I would say [name_m]Math[/name_m] thee us. Obviously If this person was of Latin heritage I would assume Ma TIE us. Good Question!
My son is named [name_m]Matias[/name_m]. It is definitely 100% pronounced mah-tee-us. I have seen some last names where people pronounce it as [name_m]Math[/name_m]-ee-us. But the origin is Old Testament Sephardic Hebrew. We use the Hispanic spelling [name_m]Matias[/name_m]. Germans spell it [name_m]Mathias[/name_m]. But still pronounce it Mah-tee-us. It is popular in [name_f]Argentina[/name_f].
I have never met anyone who has it as a first name that pronounces it differently. We love the name. I had a friend from [name_f]Argentina[/name_f] that I knew in college and loved the name and we used it for our son. [name_f]Mati[/name_f] for short. Pronounce Mah-tee.
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] that helps.
This name would be on my short list if it was pronounced the way you thought. I like the nn [name_m]Ty[/name_m]. However, in my research I could not seem to justify the pronounciation. It doesn’t appear to be legitimate. I wasn’t as keen on the thigh sound, so I dropped it.
I read it as Mah-tay-us
similar to [name_m]Matteo[/name_m] Mah-tay-oh
But going back to give it another look, Mah-tye-us does look phonetic to me.
I’d say “mah-THYE-us” unless corrected; I’ve also heard “mah-TEE-us” on [name_m]German[/name_m] friends. But “mah-[name_m]TYE[/name_m]-us” is nice too and not a crazy pronunciation [name_f]IMO[/name_f]. It’s quite an unusual name with ambiguous pronunciation as it is, so I think you should be able to enforce the pronunciation you like as people probably won’t have a set way of saying it.
If you’re fine with correcting and clarifying spelling and pronunciation (a problem even with many popular names nowadays), I say go for it! It’s a lovely name.
Well, I have always only ever known this name to be pronounced Mah-thy-us. It is actually a biblical (Hebrew ) name but in the bible it is spelt with 2 t’s ([name_m]Matthias[/name_m]) and he was the apostle chosen to replace [name_m]Judas[/name_m] Iscarot (it’s in Acts chapter 26 I think from memory). Pretty sure it’s of Hebrew/Greek origin, but probably has some [name_m]German[/name_m] roots (as per the namesake you mentioned and thus has developed variations in the pronunciations).
Either way, I think any or all of those pronunciations could be easily accepted by most people. If you just tell people how you’d prefer it to be pronounced, I’m sure they would very easily adapt.
Personally, I think it’s a great name.
My assumption would’ve been Mah-THEE-us.