Find out how popular the last name Maxey is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Maxey.

Maxey, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Maxey surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Maxey in America

Maxey is the 3372nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Maxey surname appeared 10,584 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Maxey.

We can also compare 2010 data for Maxey to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Maxey

The surname Maxey is of English origin and can be traced back to the medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the Old English place name "Maccesieg," which means "the meadow or pasture of a man named Macca." This place name is thought to have referred to a location in the county of Gloucestershire.

The earliest recorded mention of the Maxey surname can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Maccesie." This entry suggests that individuals bearing this name were landowners or tenants in the region during the Norman conquest of England.

In the 13th century, records show variations of the name spelling, such as "Makey," "Macksey," and "Makesy." These variations likely emerged due to dialectal differences and the evolving nature of language over time.

One notable bearer of the Maxey surname was Sir Henry Maxey (c. 1440-1516), a prominent English lawyer and judge who served as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer during the reign of Henry VIII.

Another historical figure with this surname was John Maxey (1637-1720), an English Puritan minister and author who emigrated to New England in the late 17th century and served as the second president of Harvard College from 1692 to 1701.

In the 18th century, the Maxey surname was also found in the records of the American colonies. Jeremiah Maxey (1722-1784) was a Revolutionary War soldier from Massachusetts who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill and later settled in Vermont.

Moving into the 19th century, Edwin Maxey (1825-1898) was an American soldier and politician who served as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and later became a U.S. Senator from Texas.

Another notable bearer of the Maxey surname was Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840-1916), an American-born British inventor best known for the development of the Maxim machine gun, one of the first fully automatic firearms.

Throughout history, the Maxey surname has been associated with various places in England, including the villages of Maxey in Northamptonshire and Maxey in Wiltshire, both of which likely derived their names from the same Old English origins as the surname itself.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Maxey

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Maxey.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Maxey was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Maxey has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Maxey was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Maxey, please contact us.

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