Maximus
Derived from the Latin word maximus, meaning "greatest" or "largest".
Name Census estimates that about 33,135 living Americans carry the first name Maximus. It sits at #330 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Maximus today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maximus births was 2014 (2,137 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maximus. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Maximus with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Maximus is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
33K
~ 1 in 10,344 Americans
Peak year
2014
2,137 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#330
Tracked since 1997
Census
Maximus in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 23,037 people with the first name Maximus, which placed it at #1,464 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,464
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
23,037 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maximus
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maximus is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.0%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Maximus described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Maximus at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.5% · 12,320
- Hispanic or Latino30.0% · 6,920
- Two or more races7.8% · 1,800
- Black or African American3.9% · 908
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 908
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 181
Gender
Gender distribution for Maximus
Out of the 33,420 babies given the name Maximus since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Maximus as a male name
- Ranked #330 in 2024
- 1,043 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (2,137 births)
Maximus as a female name
- Ranked #17,533 in 2017
- 5 female births in 2017
- Peak: 2012 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maximus appears almost entirely male. Of the 23,038 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Maximus: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maximus from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 18,691 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Maximus remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maximus by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Maximus during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maximus' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Maximus, while Vermont, Wyoming, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 642 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maximus
The name Maximus has its origins in the Latin language and culture. It is derived from the Latin word "maximus", which means "greatest" or "largest". This name likely emerged during the Roman era and was initially used to describe someone of great stature, strength, or importance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maximus can be found in ancient Roman records, where it was bestowed upon individuals who had achieved military victories or held positions of significant power. The first known Roman emperor to bear this name was Marcus Claudius Maximus, who ruled in the 3rd century AD.
In Christian tradition, the name Maximus was borne by several notable figures, including Saint Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662), a prominent Byzantine theologian and monk who played a crucial role in the Monothelite controversy and was later canonized for his unwavering defense of orthodox Christian doctrine.
Throughout history, the name Maximus has been associated with individuals of great accomplishment and renown. One of the most famous examples is Maximus Decimus Meridius, the fictional protagonist of the critically acclaimed film "Gladiator" (2000), portrayed by Russell Crowe. Despite being a fictional character, Maximus Decimus Meridius embodied the qualities of strength, valor, and leadership that the name Maximus has come to represent.
Another notable figure with the name Maximus was Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (c. 280-203 BC), a Roman statesman and military commander who earned the agnomen "Cunctator" (the Delayer) for his successful strategy of avoiding direct confrontation with Hannibal during the Second Punic War.
In the realm of literature, the name Maximus was used by the famous Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45-96 AD) for one of the characters in his epic poem "Thebaid", which recounts the legendary war between the sons of Oedipus.
While the name Maximus has its roots in ancient Rome, it has gained popularity in various cultures and languages over the centuries. From the Roman Empire to modern times, the name has been bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated exceptional qualities, strength of character, and achievements worthy of the "greatest" connotation.
People
Maximus + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maximus as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maximus: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maximus?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33,135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maximus going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 10,344 US residents.
Is Maximus a common name?
We classify Maximus as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33,420 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maximus most popular?
The single biggest year for Maximus was 2014, when 2,137 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maximus is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maximus in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 23,037 people with the name Maximus, or 7.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,464 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Maximus in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Maximus?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maximus appears almost entirely male. Of the 23,038 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Maximus?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maximus is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.0%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Maximus most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maximus in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.5% (12,320 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Maximus in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maximus a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Maximus in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Maximus still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maximus in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Maximus can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Maximus?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.