Max

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Максим in RU Russia, UA Ukraine, KZ Kazakhstan and 6 more, Maxime in FR France, BE Belgium, Maksym in PL Poland, ES Spain and Макс in MD Moldova.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Max is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name789K records spelled Max23 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Peru, United States, Mexico

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish, Italian

  Also written Máx, Mäx, Måx, Max', Màx

• French given name294K records spelled Max20 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Spain, Martinique

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Max', Mãx, Mäx, Màx, Måx

• Finnish given name33K records spelled Max11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Slovenia, Hungary

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Ḿảx, Mäx, Măx, Måx, Máx

• a separate given name27K records spelled Max3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Ecuador, United Kingdom

  Also written Máx, Mäx

• Indonesian given name6.9K records spelled Max2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Peru, Philippines

  Also written Mäx

• a separate given name6.0K records spelled Max18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Sweden, Peru, Norway

  Also written Máx, Mäx, Måx, Mąx, Mảx

• Lao given name5.2K records spelled Max79 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Thailand, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Maxi, แม็ก, แม๊ก, Mac, แม็กซ์

93 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Max is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Short form of Maximilian and, perhaps now more commonly in the Englishspeaking world, of Maxwell. It is also used as an independent given name.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In German, an a popular diminutive of the male given name Maximilian

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, 934 Belege; entweder Patronym zu Kurzform von Maximilianus oder verschliffene Form von Marx (zu Rufname Marcus).

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

• In Swedish, Max är ursprungligen en smekform till → Maximilian. Namnet har varit ett av de populäraste under de senaste årtiondena. Barbro Lindgrens (f. 1937) pekböcker om Max (1981–94), har säkerligen bidragit till namnets popularitet. I den rikssvenska almanackan 1 februari och i den finlandssvenska 18 november.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Spanish, Abreviación de Maximiliano.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Max Stirnerb. 1806DEGerman philosopher (1806–1856)
• Friedrich Max Müllerb. 1823GBGerman-born British philologist, orientalist and indologist (1823–1900)
• Max Bruchb. 1838DEGerman romantic composer and conductor (1838-1920)
• Max Liebermannb. 1847DEGerman painter (1847–1935)
• Prince Maximilian of Badenb. 1867DEnot in their usual nameGerman chancellor (1867-1929)
• Max von Laueb. 1879DEGerman physicist, Nobel laureate and anti-Nazi (1879–1960)
• Max Bornb. 1882GBGerman-Jewish physicist and mathematician (1882–1970)
• Max Beckmannb. 1884DEGerman painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor and writer (1884–1950)
• Max Euweb. 1901NLDutch chess player and mathematician
• León Neerlandésb. 1997BEnot in their usual nameDutch and Belgian racing driver

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,831 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Max?

We estimate roughly 580 thousand people bear Max (counting its spellings and scripts) across 15 countries in our records.

In which country does Max have the most bearers?

Max is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled максим.

How common is Max compared with other names?

In Russia, Max is the 29th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Max a male or female name?

Max is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Max mean?

Recorded meaning: Short form of Maxime/Maximilien; Lat.