Fun Facts About the Name Maximus
- More than 34 thousand babies named Maximus: U.S. records list 34,669 babies given the name Maximus from 1880 through 2025. Even 17 girls received the name Maximus - about 1 girl for every 2,038 boys.
What Does the Name Maximus Mean?
Maximus is a Latin name meaning "greatest" or "largest." It comes from the Latin adjective maximus, the superlative form of magnus, "great." The superlative ending marks the highest degree, so the name literally means "greatest." In Roman naming, Maximus was a cognomen - a third name that often distinguished a family branch or an individual. It often served as an honorific rather than a literal physical description. As a given name, it keeps the superlative sense of the Latin adjective.
Maximus Name History & Origins
Maximus began as a Roman cognomen. In the classical Roman naming system, a citizen typically had a praenomen, a nomen, and a cognomen, and Maximus appears as a cognomen in several prominent families. Quintus Fabius Maximus, who died in 203 BCE and was later called Cunctator ("the Delayer") for his cautious tactics against Hannibal, is one of the earliest well-known bearers. The Latin form was written MAXIMVS; the letter V stood for both U and V in Roman inscriptions.
The name continued in Roman and Byzantine use. Magnus Maximus, a Roman general who claimed the western imperial throne in the late fourth century, bore it. In Greek-speaking regions the form was Μάξιμος (Maximos). Several Christian saints carried the name, including Maximus of Turin, a bishop and preacher of the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and Maximus the Confessor, a seventh-century monk and theologian who opposed monothelitism. Their veneration kept the name in use in Greek and Latin Christian communities.
From Latin and Greek, the name passed into various European languages: Italian Massimo, Spanish and Portuguese Máximo, French Maxime, and Russian Maksim. English use of Maximus comes from the Latin name rather than from an Old English form. The name is distinct from Maximilian, a separate compound name that shares the Latin root but has its own history. A modern literary use is the fictional Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius in the film Gladiator (2000); this is a recent use of the ancient name, not its origin.
How Popular is the Name Maximus?
Maximus recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2014. Its best rank was #187 in 2016.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | #17,533 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2015 | #18,210 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2012 | #14,489 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #276 | 1,249 | 0.0731% |
| 2024 | #330 | 1,043 | 0.0608% |
| 2023 | #319 | 1,038 | 0.0608% |
| 2022 | #270 | 1,273 | 0.0730% |
| 2021 | #262 | 1,317 | 0.0753% |
| 2020 | #251 | 1,406 | 0.0815% |
| 2019 | #229 | 1,645 | 0.0917% |
| 2018 | #212 | 1,819 | 0.1002% |
| 2017 | #201 | 1,964 | 0.1061% |
| 2016 | #187 | 2,129 | 0.1122% |
| 2015 | #197 | 2,066 | 0.1078% |
| 2014 | #192 | 2,137 | 0.1113% |
| 2013 | #200 | 1,932 | 0.1022% |
| 2012 | #206 | 1,844 | 0.0972% |
| 2011 | #212 | 1,649 | 0.0868% |
| 2010 | #234 | 1,489 | 0.0776% |
| 2009 | #249 | 1,396 | 0.0704% |
| 2008 | #258 | 1,355 | 0.0664% |
| 2007 | #322 | 996 | 0.0480% |
| 2006 | #375 | 795 | 0.0387% |
| 2005 | #378 | 766 | 0.0384% |
| 2004 | #425 | 614 | 0.0309% |
| 2003 | #371 | 704 | 0.0356% |
| 2002 | #313 | 912 | 0.0470% |
| 2001 | #311 | 892 | 0.0459% |
| 2000 | #851 | 188 | 0.0096% |
| 1999 | #5,912 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1998 | #3,955 | 18 | 0.0009% |
| 1997 | #10,255 | 5 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
Explore More Lists with Name Maximus
Most Popular Boy Names That Start with M
How the Name Maximus Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have psychic power. You can carry on for others with joy. You have a receptive nature and may bear burdens for others. You are pragmatic, thorough, strong-willed, practical and stubborn at times. You are hard working, often martyr to duty. You like home and security above all. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
You are always looking for a chance to do your own thing, to be your own person, and to have things done your own way.
✦ Maximus's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Maximus's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.