Max
Meaninggreatest · Latin form of Maximilian
- US rank
- #180
- Syllables
- 1
- Peak
- #96 in 2011
2,025 babies were named Max in the US in 2025. It has dropped 33 places in five years.
Found on lists
Save adds it to your list. Vote moves it up the top voted names.
US births per million girls, 1912–2025
US births per million boys, 1880–2025
Most popular states (2025)
Similar names
Popularity: U.S. Social Security Administration (babies with 5+ births per year).
Did you know?
A few things about Max you might not know, from US birth records and Wikipedia. Handy for convincing a partner, or a grandparent.
Famous Max
Max von Laue
German physicist, Nobel laureate and anti-Nazi (1879–1960)
Choose Max and your child shares a first name with Max von Laue, a German physicist, Nobel laureate and anti-Nazi. A ready-made answer when someone asks “Max, like who?” Max von Laue's Wikipedia article is available in 93 languages, a good sign of just how widely known they are.
Read about Max von Laue on Wikipedia (opens in a new tab)Photo: Franz Schmelhaus, Zürich, Public domain (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons
- How commonAbout 1 in every 844 baby boys born in the US in 2025 was named Max, 2,025 babies in all. In a typical school of 500 kids, your Max would very likely be the only one.
- HistoryMax has been in use since at least 1880, the first year US birth records were kept. That's 145 years of Maxs, and counting.
- Best yearIts best year was 2011, when it reached #96.
- TrendMax has slipped 33 places over the last five years and now sits at #180. Good news if you want a familiar name that fewer kids will share.
- Where it's lovedMax is most popular in Washington, D.C., where it ranks #39, followed by Alaska (#76) and New Jersey (#100). It makes the top 1,000 in almost every state.
- MeaningMax is a Latin form of Maximilian, which means “greatest”.
About the name Max
Max is a boy name meaning “greatest”. It has 3 letters and 1 syllable, starting with M and ending in “-max”. US birth records list Max for boys from 1880 to 2025, in 146 of those 146 years. Its best year was 2011, when it ranked #96 among boy names. In 2025 it ranked #180, with 2,025 babies.
| Decade | Babies per million | About 1 in |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 5.0 | 200,000 girls |
| 1920s | 9.5 | 105,485 girls |
| 1930s | 6.2 | 160,772 girls |
| 1940s | 1.6 | 617,284 girls |
| 1950s | 1.8 | 546,448 girls |
| 1960s | 0.6 | 1,562,500 girls |
| 1970s | 0.7 | 1,369,863 girls |
| 1980s | 3.1 | 320,513 girls |
| 1990s | 4.2 | 239,808 girls |
| 2000s | 4.9 | 205,339 girls |
| 2010s | 15 | 65,189 girls |
| 2020s | 34 | 29,028 girls |
| Decade | Babies per million | About 1 in |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 696 | 1,437 boys |
| 1890s | 975 | 1,025 boys |
| 1900s | 1,140 | 877 boys |
| 1910s | 1,625 | 615 boys |
| 1920s | 1,279 | 782 boys |
| 1930s | 1,115 | 897 boys |
| 1940s | 591 | 1,692 boys |
| 1950s | 369 | 2,708 boys |
| 1960s | 258 | 3,869 boys |
| 1970s | 256 | 3,899 boys |
| 1980s | 467 | 2,141 boys |
| 1990s | 935 | 1,069 boys |
| 2000s | 1,370 | 730 boys |
| 2010s | 1,813 | 552 boys |
| 2020s | 1,316 | 760 boys |
Other spellings of Max
Questions about the name Max
What does the name Max mean?
Max means “greatest” in Latin, as a form of Maximilian.
Is Max a boy or girl name?
Max is a boy name, though a few girls get it too.
How popular is the name Max?
Max ranked #180 for US boys in 2025, given to 2,025 babies. Its best year was 2011 (#96).