Maksim
From the Latin for "greatest". Around 8,000 Polish men carry it, and with only a couple dozen boys given the name each year now, meeting one stays memorable.
Maksim Pronunciation
Maksim is pronounced MAHK-sheem (/ˈmakɕim/).
What Maksim means
Where Maksim comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Maksim comes from the Latin Maximus, meaning greatest, or największy in Polish. The Roman name marked a person as the largest or the foremost, and it moved into the Christian world through saints and emperors before it ever reached Slavic ground.
In Russia the name settled deeply. The writer Aleksei Peshkov took Maksim Gorky as his pen name, and that Maksim became one of the most recognizable in Russian letters. The Latin root stayed intact even as the spelling turned Cyrillic.
The longer relative Maksymilian holds the same origin, from Maximilianus, and on a Polish school register the two can sit only a few desks apart. A teacher reading the roll might reach Maksim early and Maksymilian a moment later. Whichever form a child carries, the meaning holds at największy, greatest.
How many people are named Maksim
1 in 2709 men in Poland is named Maksim. 7,884 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #403 among male names.
Maksim's popularity over time
21 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #502 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2002. Still the #403 name among living men, even as it slips to #502 among newborns.
Where parents choose Maksim
Maksim is most popular in Lower Silesian, 132% above the national average (30 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+52%) and Masovian (+13%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Lublin, 80% and 76% below average respectively.
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Lower Silesian
+132%1 in 5,238 babies
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Greater Poland
+52%1 in 7,972 babies
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Masovian
+13%1 in 10,735 babies
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Subcarpathian
−80%1 in 60,283 babies
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Lublin
−76%1 in 51,338 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−49%1 in 23,931 babies
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Lower Silesian+132% 30 born1 in 5,238 babies+132%
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Greater Poland+52% 27 born1 in 7,972 babies+52%
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Masovian+13% 33 born1 in 10,735 babies+13%
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West Pomeranian+1% 7 born1 in 12,061 babies+1%
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Lubusz−2% 4 born1 in 12,414 babies−2%
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Lesser Poland−4% 18 born1 in 12,606 babies−4%
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Łódź−4% 10 born1 in 12,672 babies−4%
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Silesian−4% 18 born1 in 12,644 babies−4%
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Podlaskie−8% 5 born1 in 13,157 babies−8%
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Pomeranian−9% 11 born1 in 13,393 babies−9%
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Holy Cross−34% 3 born1 in 18,478 babies−34%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−45% 5 born1 in 21,876 babies−45%
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Warmian-Masurian−49% 3 born1 in 23,931 babies−49%
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Lublin−76% 2 born1 in 51,338 babies−76%
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Subcarpathian−80% 2 born1 in 60,283 babies−80%
Maksim as a middle name
Maksim is a first name for 7,884 men in Poland and a middle name for another 23, a 100/0 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1811th, between Ludovic (23) and Marin (23).
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#1809 Leander23
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#1810 Ludovic23
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#1811 Maksim23
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#1812 Marin23
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#1813 Michail23