Skip to content

The surname Maxim

A French patronymic surname, carried by 1,731 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex M250 Also a first name

Maxim: #16,575 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Maxim #16,575, 1,731 people Maxim: #16,575 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Maxim #16,575, 1,731 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Maxim is more common than 89.8% of them.

Origin

French origin

* As a given name, from Latin Maximus (“greatest”), superlative of magnus (“great”). Borne by several early Christian saints. * As a French or Dutch surname, from the given name. * For the machine gun, named after American and British inventor Hiram Maxim (1840–1916).

Maxim is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

One of 791 French surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 1,731 people named Maxim in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 178,363 Americans. That is up 19% since 2000, when the Census counted 1,458.

#16,575
rank among US surnames
1,731
people in 2010
0.6
per 100,000 Americans
+18.7%
change since 2000 (was #17,719)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#16,570Gokey1,732178,260
#16,575Gaw1,731178,363
#16,582Aune1,730178,466

Who is named Maxim

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

88% of people named Maxim identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.3% as Asian and Pacific Islander and 3.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 88%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 3.3%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.0%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 2.7%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 1.7%
  • Two or more races 1.4%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

  • Maxam

Maxim has the Soundex code M250, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M250.

Other French surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Maxim come from?
* As a given name, from Latin Maximus (“greatest”), superlative of magnus (“great”). Borne by several early Christian saints. * As a French or Dutch surname, from the given name. * For the machine gun, named after American and British inventor Hiram Maxim (1840–1916).
How common is the surname Maxim?
1,731 people in the United States had the surname Maxim in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 178,363 Americans. It ranked 16,575th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Maxim?
In the 2010 Census, 88% of people named Maxim identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.3% as Asian and Pacific Islander.
What type of surname is Maxim?
Maxim is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Maxim getting more or less common?
More common. 1,458 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,731 in 2010, up 19%.
What are other spellings of Maxim?
Maxam.
Is Maxim also a first name?
Yes. Maxim is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.