How to say it
MAX
/mæks/
Masculine
Max
Greatest
What it means
Short form of Maximilian, Maximus, or Maxwell, ultimately from Latin maximus ('greatest'). Now usually a standalone given name; Where the Wild Things Are's Max gave it Gen-Y picture-book anchor.
Max began as a short form of Maximilian, Maximus, Maxwell, Maximo, or Maxime — all ultimately from the Latin maximus ('greatest'). Roman emperor Maximus, Marcus Aurelius's Maximus in Gladiator (Russell Crowe, 2000), and Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are (1963, the picture-book Max in the wolf suit) anchor different generations. Max is now overwhelmingly a standalone given name in modern US usage. The name has been in the US top 100 since 1998. Single syllable, no shorter form.
Popularity over time
peaked at #96 in 2011, currently #180 in 2025.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving
Heads-up notes
- Nickname
Max is itself a short, so doesn't shorten further. Some families give Maxwell or Maximus formally and Max daily; many give Max directly.
Who's worn it
Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.
- Max (Where the Wild Things Are) Maurice Sendak's picture-book hero in the wolf suit, 1963
- Max von Sydow Swedish actor, The Seventh Seal and The Exorcist
Spelling variants
- Maxwell
- Maximilian
- Maximus
Names with the same feeling
See Max from another angle
By style