Meaning and background
The story behind Matilda
Matilda has a well-recorded Germanic history: elements meaning strength and battle were combined in an earlier form of the name. It spread through medieval European courts and was carried to England by the Normans. That historical sense belongs to the linguistic elements, not to any dog's likely behaviour. The English name has three clear syllables and familiar short forms such as Tilly, offering both a formal choice and an everyday call.
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About Matilda
Recorded as a dog’s name
Matilda appears in 40 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/mətɪldə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the second syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/mətɪldə/ · primary stress on syllable 2M AH0 T IH1 L D AH0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.