Max

English and German diminutive of Maximilian or Maxwell

"greatest"

Max Origin and Meaning

The name Max is a boy's name of German, English, Aboriginal origin meaning "greatest".

Max was derived from Maximilian, a Latin name that originated from the Roman family name Maximus. The character name Max in the children's classic Where the Wild Things Are had an impact on baby namers. Max is a widely used name internationally.

Max was transformed from cigar-chomping grandpa to rosy-cheeked baby in the 1980s, along with card-playing partners Sam and Jake. Never quite as popular as it seemed, Max is now close to the the highest it's been on the Social Security list since 1917, after which German-sounding names went out of favor.

Max has been a popular starbaby name for decades, most recently for the sons of Christina Aguilera, Cynthia Nixon and Charlie Sheen, while other celebs, such as Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, have used more formal appellations--Maximilian, Maxwell, Maxfield--on the birth certificate to get to the nickname Max. Skater Scott Hamilton put his own spin on it by maximizing the spelling of his son's name to Maxx.

Warning: Max has long been among the most popular dog names.

Max Rank in US Top 1000

# 163 in the US

Max Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 119 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Max

• 163 US 2023
• 119 Nameberry 2025
• 85 Canada 2023
• 246 Future 2028
• 44 England 2023
• 29 Scotland 2024
• 34 Ireland 2024
• 22 Australia 2023
• 30 New Zealand 2024
• 34 Germany 2024
• 43 Netherlands 2024
• 100 Spain 2023
• 77 Sweden 2024
• 47 Finland 2022
• 86 Belgium 2023
• 53 Switzerland 2023
• 49 Austria 2023
• 147 Poland 2020
• 94 Slovenia 2023
• 2 Dogs 2023
• 7 Cats 2023

20 Names Similar to Max

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Max.

• Charlie
• Luke
• Jack
• Maxwell
• Sam
• Ben
• Eli
• Jonah
• Isaac
• Harry
• Jackson
• Jake
• Harrison
• Miles
• Benjamin
• Dylan
• Samuel
• Levi
• Zachary
• Jacob

Famous People Named Max

• Max Emilian Verstappen Dutch Formula 1 Driver
• Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber German sociologist
• Max Becker guitarist in rock band SWMRS
• Carl Adolf "Max" von Sydow Swedish actor
• Max Greenfield American actor
• Maximillian Kolenda "Max" Pacioretty American ice hockey player
• Maximillion Drake "Max" Thieriot American actor
• Maximillian Weisner "Max" Starks IV American NFL football player
• Maxwell McCandless "Max" Unger American NFL football player
• Maximillian Alberto "Max" George English singer of The Wanted
• Max Changmin South Korean singer of duo TVXQ
• Max Lloyd Jones, American actor
• Max Charles American actor
• Max Stanley aka Maxmoefoe, Australian YouTuber
• Max Carver (born Robert Maxwell Martensen) American actor; twin brother Charlie Carver
• Max Perlich American actor
• Maxwell M. "Max" Scherzer American baseball player
• Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck German theoretical physicist; Nobel Prize winner
• Max Born German physicist and mathematician; Nobel prize winner
• Max Theodor Felix von Laue German physicist; Nobel prize winner
• Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück German,€“American biophysicist; Nobel prize winner
• Max Riemelt German actor
• Max Factor (born Maksymilian Faktorowicz) Polish,Jewish founder of cosmetics giant Max Factor & Company
• Max Brooks son of actors Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft
• Max Bernstein son of screenwriter Nora Ephron and journalist Carl Bernstein
• Max Fuse son of actress Olivia Hussey and musician Akira Fuse
• Max Samuel Spielberg son of film director Steven Spielberg
• Max Todd son of reality TV personality Lisa Vanderpump and Ken Todd
• Max Cohn son of singer Marc Cohn
• Maxwell J. "Max" Heard late son of actor John Heard
• Max Greathouse Allen son of Kara Kennedy; grandson of Sen. Ted Kennedy
• Max McGinley son of actor John McGinley
• Max Favreau son of actor Jon Favreau
• Max Whitfield son of singer Patricia Lewis and Mark Whitfield
• Max Ullrich (b. 2007) son of cyclist Jan Ullrich
• Max Hugh Gorman (b. 2008) son of actor Burn Gorman
• Max Liron Bratman (b. 2008) son of singer Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman
• Maxwell Mark "Max" Croft (b. 2008) son of singer Kerry Katona and Mark Croft
• Max Sheen (b. 2009) son of actor Charlie Sheen
• Max Aaron Gottfried (b. 2009) son of comedian Gilbert Gottfried
• Max Schmeichel (b. 2010) son of footballer Kasper Schmeichel
• Max Corden (b. 2011) son of TV host James Corden
• Max Ellington Nixon Marinoni (b. 2011), son of actress Cynthia Nixon
• Max Wilde Presnall (b. 2012) son of musicians Derek and Jamie Presnall
• Max Neville Ling (b. 2012) son of AFL player Cameron Ling
• Max O'Gara (b. 2014) son of rugby union player Ronan O'Gara
• Max Red Caspe (b. 2015) son of actress Casey Wilson
• Max Bowie Band (b. 2016) son of singer Alex Band of The Calling
• Max Kerman lead singer of the Arkells
• Max Miller comedian
• Max Rainier Casiraghi (b.2018) son of Andrea Casiraghi and Tatiana Santo Domingo
• Max Walker Lauren (b.2018) son of David and Lauren Bush Lauren. Great,grandson of George H.W. and Barbara Bush.
• Max Mario Fletcher (b. 2018) son of singer Tom Fletcher & author Giovanna Fletcher.
• Max Charles Murphy (b. 2018) son of American comedian and actor Eddie Murphy
• Max Milo Peck (b. 2018) son of American actor and comedian Josh Peck

The name Max in Pop Culture

• Maximiliano (Max) Keller main male character in Scarlett Avery’s book “Undeniable Fascination”.
• Max main character in Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are"
• Max dog in Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
• "Mad Max" Rockatansky main character in the "Mad Max" movie series
• Max Bialystock main character in movie and musical "The Producers"
• Max Fischer main character in movie "Rushmore"
• Max character of Canadian dance show "The Next Step"
• Max rabbit character on animated series "Max and Ruby"
• Max character on animated series "Dragon Tales"
• Max Evans character on TV's "Roswell"
• Max Blum character on TV's "Happy Endings"
• Max Branning character on British soap "EastEnders"
• Max Miller psychic on early season of "Supernatural"
• Max de la Costa character in movie "Elysium"
• Max main character in movie "Sharkboy and Lavagirl"
• Maxwell "Max" Smart main character on TV's "Get Smart"
• Max Thunderman character on TV's "The Thundermans"
• Maximillion "Max" Galactica character in video game "Ace Attorney"
• Max character on TV's "24"
• Max character in Comet Man comics
• Max talking spaceship in movie "Flight of the Navigator"
• Max character in the Pokemon animated series
• Max rabbit character in the Sam & Max series
• Max Vandenburg character in Markus Zusak's "The Book Thief"
• Max Britsky main character in "Max" by Howard Fast
• Max Rhaymer character from the 2016 TV movie "Backstabbed"
• Max Factor cosmetic company
• Max main character in the Rooster Teeth animated series "Camp Camp"
• Maximilian 'Max' Miller character from Netflix's "Greenhouse Academy"
• Max Kante character from "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir"
• Max Fuller character on Netflix,series "Fuller House"
• Max Goldman character in the 1993 film "Grumpy Old Men" & the 1995 sequel "Grumpier Old Men"