Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname Maxwell

    A place surname, carried by 67,961 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈmækswɛl/ 2 syllables Soundex M240 Also a first name

    Maxwell: #490 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Maxwell #490, 67,961 people Maxwell: #490 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott Maxwell #490, 67,961 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Maxwell is more common than 99.7% of them.

    Origin

    From an earlier form Mackeswell, meaning "Mack's well or spring", from Old English welle (“well”).

    Maxwell is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 67,961 people named Maxwell in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 4,543 Americans. That is up 3.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 65,779.

    #490
    rank among US surnames
    67,961
    people in 2010
    23
    per 100,000 Americans
    +3.3%
    change since 2000 (was #458)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #481Hammond69,5154,441
    #482Hampton69,4724,444
    #483Townsend69,3604,451
    #484Ingram69,3454,452
    #485Wise68,6494,497
    #486Gallegos68,3734,516
    #487Clarke68,2814,522

    Who is named Maxwell

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

    73% of people named Maxwell identified as white (not Hispanic), 21% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 73%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 21%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
    • Two or more races 2.2%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Maxwells

    21 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Stella Maxwell
      Belgian-New Zealand supermodel (born 1990)
    • Marilyn Maxwell
      American actress and singer (1921–1972)
    • Glenn Maxwell
      Australian cricketer, born 1988
    • Cedric Maxwell
      American basketball player (born 1955)
    • John C. Maxwell
      American author, speaker and neopentecostal pastor, born 1947
    • Elsa Maxwell
      American gossip columnist, author, songwriter, and hostess (1883–1963)
    • Daphne Maxwell Reid
      American actress, comedian and former model (born 1948)
    • Vernon Maxwell
      American basketball player, shooting guard, born 1965
    • John Maxwell
      American golfer (1871–1906)
    • Jenny Maxwell
      American actress (1941-1981)
    • John Maxwell
      British Army officer and colonial governor (1859-1929)
    • Edwin Maxwell
      Actor (1886-1948)

    Notable Maxwells come mostly from the United States (15), the United Kingdom (3) and Australia (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Maxwell

    Maxwell has the Soundex code M240, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code M240.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Maxwell come from?
    From an earlier form Mackeswell, meaning "Mack's well or spring", from Old English welle (“well”).
    How common is the surname Maxwell?
    67,961 people in the United States had the surname Maxwell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,543 Americans. It ranked 490th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Maxwell?
    In the 2010 Census, 73% of people named Maxwell identified as white (not Hispanic), and 21% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Maxwell?
    Stella Maxwell, Belgian-New Zealand supermodel (born 1990), followed by Marilyn Maxwell.
    Where is the surname Maxwell most common?
    Wikidata records people named Maxwell in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 2 other countries.
    How do you pronounce Maxwell?
    Maxwell is /ˈmækswɛl/, 2 syllables.
    What type of surname is Maxwell?
    Maxwell is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Maxwell getting more or less common?
    More common. 65,779 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 67,961 in 2010, up 3.3%.
    Is Maxwell also a first name?
    Yes. Maxwell 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.