Maxxwell
A variant of the English masculine name Maxwell, derived from an Old English surname meaning "great stream".
Name Census estimates that about 251 living Americans carry the first name Maxxwell. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Maxxwell today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maxxwell births was 2008 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maxxwell. 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.
People living today
251
~ 1 in 1,365,555 Americans
Peak year
2008
20 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,750
Tracked since 1990
Census
Maxxwell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205 people with the first name Maxxwell, which placed it at #37,817 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
#37,817
National first-name rank
People counted
205
205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maxxwell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maxxwell is White at 73.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.8%) and Black (8.3%). 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 Maxxwell 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 Maxxwell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.7% · 151
- Two or more races9.8% · 20
- Black or African American8.3% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 3
Popularity
Maxxwell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maxxwell 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 101 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maxxwell 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 Maxxwell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maxxwell
The name Maxxwell is a variant spelling of the English name Maxwell, which is derived from the Old English masculine given name Mæccilwine. This name is composed of two elements: the first being "mæccil" meaning "mighty" or "great," and the second being "wine" meaning "friend." Thus, the name Maxxwell originally carried the meaning of "great friend" or "mighty friend."
The name Maxxwell has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon era, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 11th century. It is believed to have originated in the regions of modern-day England and Scotland, where it was commonly used among the ruling classes and aristocracy.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Maxxwell can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and property holdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The Domesday Book mentions several individuals bearing the name Maxwell, indicating its widespread use during the Norman period.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Maxxwell was particularly popular among noble families in Scotland, where it was associated with various clans and influential figures. One notable example is Robert Maxwell, a 13th-century Scottish nobleman who served as Lord Chamberlain of Scotland from 1258 to 1266.
In the 16th century, a prominent bearer of the name was James Maxwell (1498-1552), a Scottish mathematician and natural philosopher who made significant contributions to the study of optics and mechanics. His work on the principles of electromagnetic radiation laid the foundation for the modern understanding of electromagnetism.
Another historically significant figure with the name Maxxwell was James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), a Scottish physicist who is renowned for his groundbreaking work in classical electromagnetic theory. His equations, known as Maxwell's equations, unified electricity, magnetism, and light into a single theory, which stands as one of the greatest achievements in the history of physics.
During the 20th century, the name Maxxwell gained further recognition through individuals like Robert Maxwell (1923-1991), a British media tycoon and former member of parliament. Despite his controversial business practices, he played a significant role in the publishing industry and was a prominent public figure in the United Kingdom.
People
Maxxwell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maxxwell 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
Maxxwell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maxxwell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 251 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maxxwell 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 1,365,555 US residents.
Is Maxxwell a common name?
We classify Maxxwell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maxxwell most popular?
The single biggest year for Maxxwell was 2008, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maxxwell is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maxxwell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205 people with the name Maxxwell, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,817 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 Maxxwell 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 Maxxwell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maxxwell leans strongly male. 201 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 3 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Maxxwell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maxxwell is White at 73.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.8%) and Black (8.3%). 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 Maxxwell most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maxxwell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.7% (151 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 Maxxwell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maxxwell a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maxxwell 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 Maxxwell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maxxwell 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 Maxxwell 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 Americans are named Maxxwell?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.