Magnus
Masculine · Latin roots · “Great”
Magnus is the Latin word for "great" that turned into a name — first as an epithet for Roman generals, then as a royal name carried by kings of Norway, Sweden and Denmark for the better part of a thousand years. It says exactly what it means, in two clean syllables that land the same way in English as they do in Norwegian.
How old is the name Magnus?
Magnus first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Magnus is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 5,700 people named Magnus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Magnus most popular?
Magnus peaked in 2017, reaching #719 nationally. Today it ranks #763, 44 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Magnus appears on these lists:
- Hero and god names for boys
- Scandinavian names, cool by design
- Ancient Roman names in modern use
- Viking names from the sagas
- all guides
Works in Scandinavian families too:
Where it comes from
From magnus (Latin, "great") to Magnus
The story of Magnus
The word came first: magnus, Latin for "great," used by the Romans as an honorific rather than a name. It became a name in the North, where the Norse sagas record that Magnus Olafsson, king of Norway in the eleventh century, was named for Charlemagne — Carolus Magnus. From him it passed into the royal houses of Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and traveled with Norse rule to Orkney, Scotland and Ireland, where it took local shapes like Manus. It has been in continuous use in Scandinavia ever since, and reached American records with Scandinavian and German immigration long before its present wave.
Meaning
Great, large
Directly from the Latin adjective magnus. It began as a title attached to notable men — Pompeius Magnus, Carolus Magnus — before it became a given name in its own right.
How the name formed
- magnusLatin, "great"
- Carolus Magnus
- MagnúsOld Norse
- Magnus
Related forms: Magnús · Mogens · Måns · Magne · Manus · Mauno
Pronouncing Magnus
MAG-nus
Stress on the first syllable, with a short a as in bag. Scandinavian speakers say it much the same way; the Icelandic Magnús lengthens the second syllable to MAG-noos.
Nicknames for Magnus
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1890
- Most boys named
- 2021354 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #719reached in 2017
- Change vs 2023
- −0.3%337 in 2025, from 338
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Magnus in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Magnús in Icelandic — spelling variant
- Mogens in Danish — related form
- Måns in Swedish — related form
- Magne in Norwegian — related form
- Manus in Irish — related form
- Mauno in Finnish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Washington.
Magnuss among us
people named Magnus are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,068 born in 2025 was named Magnus
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Alexandro test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Magnus's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alexandro climbed just as high around 2002, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alexandro's path sketches the road Magnus is walking now.
Magnus sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Magnus is headed
Magnus should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Magnus beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Magnus in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds, and short enough that almost no one asks for it twice.
- The meaning is fully settled — Latin for "great" — with no competing readings to explain.
- Recognized across English, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, German and Dutch without changing form.
- A documented record running from Roman honorifics through a millennium of Northern European kings.
- Common enough to be familiar, uncommon enough that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- A name that means "great" is on the nose, and some people will say so out loud. It has been worn plainly for a thousand years, but the joke is always available.
- There is no soft, obvious English nickname waiting. Magnus tends to be used in full, with Mags as the main alternative — fine if you like the whole name, worth knowing if you were counting on a shorter one.
- It can be misheard as Angus or Marcus over the phone, especially in noisy rooms.
- Its recent American growth means most people carrying it are still young, so the name may read as distinctly of this generation rather than as an old family standard.
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What they receive
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Magnus
Masculine · Latin roots · #763 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Magnuss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,700 people named Magnus are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Magnus in 2025?
- Magnus ranks #763 among US boy names in 2025, with 337 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Magnus?
- About 1 in every 5,068 US boys born in 2025 was named Magnus — 337 in all.
- Will my child share the name Magnus with classmates?
- Magnus will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Magnus
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Campbell#763 · Santos#763 · Abdullah#763 · Ayan#762 · Dario#760 · Mustafa#760 · Izael#767 · Brayan#768
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Magnus? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Magnus and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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