Maximus
- Pronunciation
- [Ma-xi-mus]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Greatest.
- Origin
- Irish
About the Name Maximus
Maximus descends from the Latin Maximus, the superlative form of Magnus (great) — yielding "greatest." The name was used as a Roman cognomen for emperors and generals known for their achievements ("the greatest"), most notably Maximus Thrax (3rd-century Roman emperor) and Magnus Maximus (4th-century Roman usurper).
The name's most influential modern English-language anchor is fictional: Maximus Decimus Meridius, the Roman general-turned-gladiator protagonist of Ridley Scott's 2000 film Gladiator, played by Russell Crowe (who won the Oscar for Best Actor). The film's iconic line "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius..." gave the name a substantial American cultural register. The 2024 sequel Gladiator II further reinforced the name's recognition.
Maximus's American climb is essentially a 21st-century phenomenon, accelerated by the Gladiator films. The name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 1995 to the US top 200 boys' rank by 2010 and the top 200 since. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the in-built classical-Roman-warrior register, the strong masculine sound with the distinctive X middle, and the popular -us ending family (Marcus, Magnus, Maximus). Three syllables, hard consonants, and tonal versatility from rugged-classical to contemporary American. The name reads as decisively masculine and aspirational. Common nicknames Max (the dominant short form, casual and universal — also shared with Maxwell and Maximilian), Maxi, and the rare Imus each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings include the longer Maximilian (German), Massimo (Italian), Máximo (Spanish), and the related Magnus.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Maximus
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Maximus by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2014 with 2,137 boys named Maximus (boy rank #192 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #276 for boys (1,249 US births). That's 84 places below its 2014 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 Maximus 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 Maximus the strongest states are Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | #164 | 43 |
| 2 | Hawaii | #173 | 74 |
| 3 | New Hampshire | #185 | 50 |
| 4 | Rhode Island | #189 | 39 |
| 5 | Nevada | #190 | 175 |
| 6 | California | #197 | 2,084 |
| 7 | Arizona | #201 | 414 |
| 8 | South Dakota | #203 | 37 |
| 9 | Maine | #204 | 48 |
| 10 | Connecticut | #207 | 153 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | #496 | 52 |
| 2 | Louisiana | #493 | 112 |
| 3 | Alabama | #474 | 86 |
| 4 | South Carolina | #447 | 94 |
| 5 | Georgia | #377 | 287 |
| 6 | Tennessee | #359 | 224 |
| 7 | Arkansas | #352 | 86 |
| 8 | Iowa | #352 | 107 |
| 9 | West Virginia | #329 | 31 |
| 10 | Kansas | #323 | 122 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Maximus in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Maximus?
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 Maximus to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Maximus 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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