The name Mattingly started appearing in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1990s, debuting first for boys, then for girls:
- 1999: unlisted
- 1998: 5 baby boys named Mattingly
- 1997: unlisted
- 1996: 5 baby girls named Mattingly
- 1995: 5 baby boys named Mattingly [debut]
- 1994: unlisted
- 1993: unlisted
What put it there?
I’d say baseball player Don Mattingly, who spent his entire career (1982 to 1995) with the New York Yankees.
Curiously, the name didn’t pop up until the year he retired — despite the fact that he’d had a very successful career (e.g., six-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove winner).
Since then, it has primarily seen usage as a girl name.
The surname Mattingly can be traced back to Mattingley, the name of a village in Hampshire, England. The place name, derived from the Old English, means: “woodland clearing (leah) associated with (-inga) a man called Matta.”
Sources:
- Don Mattingly – Wikipedia
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.