Maximilian
- Pronunciation
- [Ma-xi-mi-li-an]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- The Greatest.
- Origin
- German
About the Name Maximilian
Maximilian descends from the Latin Maximilianus, derived from Maximus (greatest) plus Aemilianus — invented by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III in the 15th century to honor two Roman generals (Maximus and Aemilianus). The name has been used continuously in Germanic, Italian, and Spanish-Catholic naming traditions since the late medieval period.
The name's overwhelming historical anchor is Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459–1519, the Holy Roman Emperor who consolidated Habsburg power in Central Europe through his strategic marriages, anchoring the Maximilian name in Germanic-imperial history). Other notable bearers include Mexican Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (1832–1867, the Habsburg archduke who briefly reigned as Emperor of Mexico 1864–1867 before being executed); American actor Maximilian Schell (1930–2014, the iconic Austrian-American Oscar-winning actor); and contemporary American basketball player Maximilian Kleber.
Maximilian's American climb is part of the broader 21st-century American taste for distinctive Latinate boys' names alongside Augustus and Sebastian. The name climbed from outside the US top 500 in 2000 to the US top 300 boys' rank by 2014 and the top 300 since. The name has been driven primarily by Italian-American, Spanish-American, and German-American naming. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the layered Latin-Germanic-imperial-historical pedigree, the in-built distinctive emperor-historical sophistication, and the popular five-syllable structure that nicknames easily. Five flowing syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to Latinate naming. The name reads as both classical-imperial and contemporary American. Common nicknames Max (the dominant warm short form, casual and warm — also a popular standalone name on its own), Maxie, Mac, and the rare Milian each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Maximilian, Maximillian, and Maximiliano (Spanish elaborate) have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Maximiliano (Spanish), Massimiliano (Italian), Maximilian (German alternate), Maksymilian (Polish), Maximilien (French), and the original Latin Maximilianus.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Maximilian
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Maximilian by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2016 with 717 boys named Maximilian (boy rank #433 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #590 for boys (497 US births). That's 157 places below its 2016 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Maximilian Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Maximilian the strongest states are District of Columbia, Illinois, Connecticut.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | #244 | 21 |
| 2 | Illinois | #300 | 373 |
| 3 | Connecticut | #360 | 77 |
| 4 | New Jersey | #370 | 208 |
| 5 | California | #373 | 915 |
| 6 | New York | #376 | 456 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | #400 | 117 |
| 8 | Nevada | #404 | 49 |
| 9 | Nebraska | #423 | 24 |
| 10 | Florida | #486 | 320 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tennessee | #800 | 41 |
| 2 | North Carolina | #774 | 104 |
| 3 | Louisiana | #761 | 33 |
| 4 | Georgia | #740 | 101 |
| 5 | Missouri | #680 | 67 |
| 6 | South Carolina | #678 | 30 |
| 7 | Utah | #650 | 25 |
| 8 | Indiana | #636 | 94 |
| 9 | Texas | #599 | 448 |
| 10 | Ohio | #588 | 150 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Maximilian in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mac | Son Of | Male | Celtic |
| Mack | Son Of | Male | Celtic |
| Maxie | The Greatest. Feminine Of Max. | Female | English |
| Maxime | The Greatest. | Male | French |
| Maximilian | The Greatest. | Male | German |
| Maximillian | The Greatest. | Male | English |
| Maximus | Greatest. | Male | Irish |
Looking for names like Maximilian?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Maximilian to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Maximilian against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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