Maxwell: Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, & Inspiration

Boy name origins & meanings

English : Capable
Latin : Great
Scottish : Mack's well

What does Maxwell mean and stand for?

The name Maxwell is of Scottish origin and means "great stream." It was originally a Scottish surname meaning Mack's stream, from the name Mack, a short form of the Scandinavian name Magnus, combined with Old English wella "stream".

Syllables: 2

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

Scottish : habitational name from a place near Melrose in Roxburghshire. The place name is first recorded in 1144 in the form Mackeswell ‘Mack’s spring or stream (Old English well(a))’.
Irish : this surname is common in Ulster, where it has sometimes been adopted as an alternative to Miskell.
Jewish : arbitrary adoption of the Scottish name, or Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

Famous people who gave their babies this name

Jessica Simpson

Dustin Hoffman

Popularity

According to Social Security Administration data, Maxwell has been all over the charts, but has remained in the top 150 for the last two decades. It reached its peak in 2014 at 107.

However, it is the 9th most popular name on FamilyEducation.com.

According to Google search data analysis, in the last five years Maxwell was at its peak popularity in July 2020.

Maxwell gained momentum after Lance Armstrong chose it for his son, and received quite the shocking shift when Jessica Simpson and Lindsay Sloane chose it for their daughters. Despite this switch, Maxwell is still more commonly used for males. Actors Maxwell Perry Cotton and Maxwell Huckabee are some notable namesakes. It's been quite the popular choice for fictional characters, as well, appearing in The Nanny, Get Smart, M*A*S*H, and Across the Universe.