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Maxim

Latin at root, where it means "greatest", and a rarer spelling of Maksym. Fewer than 2,000 men in Poland carry it, so meeting one sticks with you, though a handful of boys still get the name each year.

Maxim Pronunciation

Related names
Maksym Maks
Alive in 2025
1,993
Newborns 2025
16
National rank
#708

What Maxim means

Where Maxim comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Maxim comes from the Latin Maximus, the superlative of magnus, and it means the greatest. The Romans used Maximus as a cognomen, a name added to a man thought to have outdone his kin. In Polish paperwork the fuller variant appears as Maksym, while the short form Maks does everyday work.

The name took root in Russian soil. Maxim Gorky, born Aleksei Peshkov, chose Maxim as his pen name in 1892, and the Russian colouring of the name owes a great deal to him. Older still is Saint Maximus the Confessor, the Byzantine monk whose writings the Church still reads.

Picture a school register in September, the teacher reading down the list until she reaches Maks. He answers. The meaning, największy in Polish, sits behind a boy who has not yet done anything great, and that is fine. The Latin greatest waits in the full form, Maksym.

How many people are named Maxim

1 in 10721 men in Poland is named Maxim. 1,993 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #708 among male names.

People with the name Maxim 2019 → 2025
1,993 +1,451 since 2019
2020 641 +99
2021 772 +131
2022 987 +215
2023 1,623 +636
2024 1,831 +208
2025 1,993 +162

Maxim's popularity over time

16 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #576 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2001.

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16 newborns with the name Maxim in 2025
national rank #576 that year

Where Maxim is most popular

Maxim is most popular in Pomeranian, 97% above the national average (11 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+71%) and Lower Silesian (+68%). It is least common in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Łódź, 52% and 17% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Maxim as a middle name

Maxim is a first name for 1,993 men in Poland and a middle name for another 59, a 97/3 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 958th, between Harrison (59) and Nicolae (59).

As a first name
1,993
As a middle name
59
first name 97% middle name 3%
Middle-name ranking men

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