Maxwell
Masculine · “Maccus's pool”
Maxwell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 108,732 boys against 735 girls since 1880. See Maxwell as a girl name
Maxwell began as a place you could stand in: a salmon pool on the River Tweed near Kelso, held in the twelfth century by a man called Maccus, and written down as Maccuswell. From that pool came a Scottish border family, then a surname, then a first name that has been in continuous use in America for well over a century. It ends in that firm -well, and it comes with Max already attached.
How old is the name Maxwell?
Maxwell was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Maxwell alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 103,000 people named Maxwell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maxwell most popular?
Maxwell peaked in 1999, reaching #106 nationally. Today it ranks #189, 83 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Where it comes from
From Maccus to Maxwell
The story of Maxwell
The name is a Scottish place before it is anything else — Maccuswell, a fishing pool on the Tweed in the Borders. The family that took its name from that pool became one of the great houses of southwest Scotland, and Maxwell spread as a surname from there through Scotland, Ulster and then across the Atlantic. Like many Scottish surnames, it moved into first-name use the usual way: carried first as a mother's maiden name handed down to a son, then simply chosen as a given name in its own right. American records show it in that role for generation after generation, rising into wide familiarity in recent decades and now easing back a little from its high point.
Meaning
Maccus's pool — a pool or well on a river belonging to a man named Maccus
Maccus was a Norse-derived personal name in circulation in twelfth-century Scotland; the second element is the northern word for a pool in a river, close kin to English 'well' for a spring.
How the name formed
- Maccus
- Maccuswell
- Maxwellsurname
- Maxwellgiven name
Related forms: Maxwel · Maxwelle
Pronouncing Maxwell
MAKS-wel
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling gives no trouble on either side of the Atlantic — people read it correctly on sight.
Nicknames for Maxwell
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20133,643 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #106reached in 1999
- Change vs 2022
- −11.9%1,924 in 2025, from 2,183
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.
Maxwell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maxwel in Portuguese (Brazil) — spelling variant
- Maxwelle in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Maxwells among us
people named Maxwell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 888 born in 2025 was named Maxwell
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 Rickey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maxwell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rickey climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rickey's path sketches the road Maxwell is walking now.
Maxwell peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Maxwell is headed
Maxwell 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.
Maxwell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maxwell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Comes with Max ready-made: a short form in real use for generations, which also stands alone as a full name if he prefers it.
- Spelled one way and read one way; almost nobody asks how to write it.
- A documented line back to a twelfth-century place in the Scottish Borders, and a surname carried by a well-known border family.
- Familiar without being crowded — most Maxwells go through school without meeting another.
- Max is shared territory. Many boys called Max arrive there from Maximilian, Maxim or Maximus, so the nickname will not mark him out even where the full name does.
- It still reads as a surname to a lot of ears, which is either the appeal or the objection depending on the household. Paired with a surname-sounding last name, the whole can sound like two family names in a row.
- There is a long-standing American coffee brand with this name, so expect the occasional joke — mild, and it tends to fade once someone has met an actual Maxwell.
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What they receive
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Maxwell
Masculine · #189 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maxwells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 103,000 people named Maxwell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maxwell in 2025?
- Maxwell ranks #189 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,924 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maxwell?
- About 1 in every 888 US boys born in 2025 was named Maxwell — 1,924 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maxwell with classmates?
- Maxwell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maxwell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rhett#188 · Callan#190 · Alan#191 · Peter#187 · Chase#192 · Aziel#186 · Amari#185 · Legend#193
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maxwell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maxwell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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