The Catalan numbers Cn ∈ {1,1,2,5,14,42,…} form one of the most venerable sequences in combinatorics. They have many combinatorial interpretations, from counting bracketings of products in non-associative algebra to counting plane trees and noncrossing set partitions. They also arise in the GUE matrix model as the leading coefficient of certain polynomials, a connection closely related to the plane trees and noncrossing set partitions interpretations. In this paper we defi ne a generalization of the Catalan numbers. In fact we defi ne an infinite collection of generalizations Cn(m) , m >= 1, with m = 1 giving the usual Catalans Cn; the sequence Cn(m) comes from studying certain matrix models attached to hypergraphs. We also give some combinatorial interpretations of these numbers.