Maximus
The story
Maximus is Latin for greatest, and its American record contains a dated hinge of almost unmatched sharpness: 34 boys in the 1990s, then 8,618 in the 2000s, two hundred fifty times over, on the far side of a single May 2000 release in which a Roman general with this name asked a colosseum whether it was not entertained. Decade buckets point, they do not convict, but few coincidences in the record are this loud. The name held: about 18,700 in the 2010s, with 7,300 so far this decade, every one of them a boy. Max does the everyday work, as our nickname records note, and gives the grandeur an off-ramp. In our records: about 34,700 boys to 17 girls. Rome used the name for a thousand years before the movies found it; the superlative was always the point.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Maximus peaked in the 2010s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
686 people · the #10,751 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 333,333 · median age 10
Among people named Maximus living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 125 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Maximus
Most people given the name Maximus in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Maximus deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Maximus truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Maximus fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Maximus fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Maximus to your family’s tree →