Head to head · Boys' names
Maximo vs Moises
#580 vs #587 in 2025
Maximo is a whisker ahead (#580 vs #587 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Maximo is climbing the charts fast, Moises is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Maximo and Moises each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1890s: Maximo —, Moises #907 — Moises higher
- 1900s: Maximo #1130, Moises #1214 — Maximo higher
- 1910s: Maximo #2823, Moises #2381 — Moises higher
- 1920s: Maximo #2036, Moises #1433 — Moises higher
- 1930s: Maximo #2280, Moises #1271 — Moises higher
- 1940s: Maximo #1884, Moises #1271 — Moises higher
- 1950s: Maximo #1950, Moises #1081 — Moises higher
- 1960s: Maximo #1700, Moises #798 — Moises higher
- 1970s: Maximo #1618, Moises #609 — Moises higher
- 1980s: Maximo #1729, Moises #493 — Moises higher
- 1990s: Maximo #1753, Moises #403 — Moises higher
- 2000s: Maximo #1000, Moises #350 — Moises higher
- 2010s: Maximo #835, Moises #456 — Moises higher
- 2020s: Maximo #649, Moises #543 — Moises higher
Moises stood higher in 13 of 14 decades; Moises has held the lead since the 1910s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Maximo | Moises |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | — | #907 |
| 1900s | #1130 | #1214 |
| 1910s | #2823 | #2381 |
| 1920s | #2036 | #1433 |
| 1930s | #2280 | #1271 |
| 1940s | #1884 | #1271 |
| 1950s | #1950 | #1081 |
| 1960s | #1700 | #798 |
| 1970s | #1618 | #609 |
| 1980s | #1729 | #493 |
| 1990s | #1753 | #403 |
| 2000s | #1000 | #350 |
| 2010s | #835 | #456 |
| 2020s | #649 | #543 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Maximo
greatest
From Latin maximus, the superlative of magnus, "great" — literally "greatest, largest."
Maximus → Máximo → Maximo
How it traveled
Maximus began as a Roman cognomen, an honorific tacked onto a family name, and it was common enough across the Latin-speaking world to be handed down for generations. Early Christianity gave it a second life: several saints of the first millennium bore the name, which kept it in liturgical calendars long after the empire had gone.
Moises
either "drawn out (of the water)" or Egyptian "son, born of"
Exodus 2:10 explains the name from the Hebrew root meaning to draw out, since the infant was drawn from the Nile. Scholars of Egyptian have long pointed instead to the element mose, "son" or "born of," the same piece that ends Thutmose and Ramose. Both readings are seriously held, and the name is old enough to hold both.
Mosheh → Mōusēs → Moyses → Moisés → Moises
How it traveled
The name begins as Hebrew Mosheh, borne by the figure at the center of the Exodus story. The Jewish translators who produced the Greek Septuagint wrote it Mōusēs; Latin Bibles turned that into Moyses, and from the Latin came Spanish Moisés, Portuguese Moisés and French Moïse.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Maximo
MAK-see-mo
Stress falls on the first syllable in both Spanish and English; the Spanish spelling Máximo marks it with an accent. Expect an occasional mak-SEE-mo from people meeting it in print.
- Max — The everyday short form; also a standalone given name, and shared with Maxwell, Maximilian and Maximus.
- Maxi — Common in Spanish-speaking households and in Latin American sport, used affectionately rather than formally.
- Mo — An informal English-language shortening, used mostly among friends.
Moises
moy-SESS
Three syllables in careful Spanish (mo-ee-SESS), usually compressed to two, always with the stress at the end. English speakers who know Moses often reach for MOY-zeez instead, so a gentle correction is part of the deal. The accented spelling Moisés makes the stress explicit.
- Moi — The standard informal short form in Spanish-speaking families; rarely used as a name on its own.
- Moy — Phonetic spelling of the same short form, common in writing among US Spanish speakers.
- Mo — The English-language shortening, shared with Mohammed, Morgan and Maurice.
- Moe — Older English spelling of Mo, still attached to the Moses line.
One short form, two names
- Maximo and Moises both shorten to Mo.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Maximo if you want…
- a name on the way upup 174 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMaximo runs 3 syllables, Moises 2
Choose Moises if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMoises is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesMoises is 2 syllables to Maximo's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Maximo
Strengths
- Meaning is settled and easy to state: Latin for "greatest."
- Recognizable across Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and Russian in closely related forms.
- Shortens instantly to Max, a nickname Americans already know and spell without help.
To consider
- The accent is the sticking point: Máximo in Spanish, Maximo in most US paperwork. Families who use both will spend a while correcting one or the other.
- Max is shared territory. It belongs equally to Maxwell, Maximilian and Maximus, so a child who goes by it may not be the only Max in the room even while remaining the only Maximo.
- It sits close enough to Maximus and Maximiliano that some people will reach for the wrong one on first hearing. A single calm repetition usually settles it for good.
Moises
Strengths
- Recognized across Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and Arabic-speaking countries, through the same biblical figure in each.
- One of the oldest continuously used names on record, with a documented line from Hebrew through Greek and Latin.
- Has a ready-made short form, Moi, already in everyday use rather than invented on the spot.
To consider
- The accent matters. Moisés tells a reader where the stress falls; Moises leaves it open, and English speakers will often guess MOY-zeez by analogy with Moses. Expect to choose one spelling and repeat the pronunciation more than once.
- It sits beside Moses, and some people will assume the two are interchangeable or write one for the other. They are the same name, which makes the mix-up understandable but no less frequent.
- The biblical association is unavoidable and, for many families, the whole point — worth knowing that it comes with the name whether or not you intend it.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Maximo and Moises in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Maximo and Moises?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Maximo and Moises — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Maximo or Moises — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Maximo or Moises?
- Maximo, in 2025: Maximo ranked #580 with 506 babies; Moises ranked #587 with 502 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Maximo or Moises?
- Maximo. Over the last five years Maximo moved up 174 places; Moises moved down 79 places.
- Which is the older name, Maximo or Moises?
- Maximo entered the US charts in 1903; Moises entered the US charts in 1893. On the American record, Moises is the older name.
- How many people are named Maximo and Moises?
- About 8,600 people named Maximo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 29,500 people named Moises are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Maximo and Moises share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Mo, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Maximo, Moises and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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