The water level of the river varies with the seasons and the precipitation; the spring flood occurs in March or April.

The Matte river has its source in a forest area in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, almost at the limit of Neuville, north of the village of Saint-Nicolas.

This toponym evokes the work of life of Nicolas Matte (Sainte-Geneviève-en-Bray, 1636 - Neuville, 1704) who emigrated to New France before 1666 as evidenced by his registration in the first colony census carried out during the winter of 1665–1666.

It was in this place that he worked the land as a farmer and founded a large family with his wife Madeleine Auvray, a Daughter of the King who arrived in Quebec in 1671.

The toponym "Rivière à Matte" was formalized on December 5, 1968 at the Commission de toponymie du Québec.