Maven
An expert or master in a given field or activity.
Name Census estimates that about 1,617 living Americans carry the first name Maven. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Maven today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maven births was 2023 (204 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maven. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Maven with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Maven is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 211,969 Americans
Peak year
2023
204 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,544
Tracked since 1998
Census
Maven in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 841 people with the first name Maven, which placed it at #14,106 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,106
National first-name rank
People counted
841
841 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maven
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maven is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Two or More Races (10.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Maven described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Maven at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 483
- Hispanic or Latino15.2% · 128
- Two or more races10.7% · 90
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 71
- Black or African American6.9% · 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Maven
Maven is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,629 total registrations, 480 (29.5%) were male and 1,149 (70.5%) were female.
Maven as a male name
- Ranked #3,246 in 2024
- 37 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (48 births)
Maven as a female name
- Ranked #1,544 in 2024
- 138 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (156 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Maven on both sides of the split. Of the 845 people counted with this name, 299 were male (35.4%) and 546 were female (64.6%).
Popularity
Maven: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maven from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 769 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maven by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Maven during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mavens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Maven, while Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maven
The name Maven originated from the Latin word "mavere" which means "to want" or "to crave." It is believed to have first appeared in ancient Roman culture, where it was used to describe someone who was insatiably curious and had a deep desire to learn and acquire knowledge.
In the early days of the Roman Empire, the term "maven" was often used to refer to scholars, philosophers, and intellectuals who were renowned for their vast knowledge and expertise. One of the earliest recorded references to the name can be found in the writings of the Roman philosopher Seneca, who lived from 4 BC to 65 AD.
As the Roman Empire expanded, the name Maven spread to other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean region. It was particularly popular among the educated classes, who saw it as a symbol of intellectual curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Maven was Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist and philosopher who lived from 23 to 79 AD. His encyclopedic work, "Naturalis Historia," was a pioneering effort to document the natural world and human knowledge.
Another notable figure in history who bore the name Maven was Hypatia of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who lived from 370 to 415 AD. She was a highly respected teacher and scholar, and her tragic death at the hands of a Christian mob is often cited as a symbol of the decline of classical learning in the ancient world.
In the Middle Ages, the name Maven remained associated with scholars and intellectuals, particularly in the monastic traditions of Europe. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Hrabanus Maurus, a Frankish Benedictine monk, scholar, and theologian who lived from 780 to 856 AD. He was known for his extensive writings on a wide range of subjects, including grammar, theology, and biblical exegesis.
During the Renaissance, the name Maven experienced a resurgence in popularity, as the humanist movement celebrated the pursuit of knowledge and intellectual curiosity. One of the most prominent figures of this era to bear the name was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, an Italian Renaissance philosopher and scholar who lived from 1463 to 1494. He was known for his prodigious intellect and his efforts to reconcile various philosophical and religious traditions.
In more recent times, the name Maven has continued to be associated with individuals who possess a deep well of knowledge and expertise in a particular field. One notable example is Isaac Asimov, the renowned American author and biochemist who lived from 1920 to 1992. Asimov was widely regarded as a true "maven" of science fiction, and his prolific writings covered a vast range of topics, from robotics to history and beyond.
People
Maven + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maven as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maven: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maven?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,617 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maven going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 211,969 US residents.
Is Maven a common name?
We classify Maven as "Rare". It ranks above 92.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,629 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maven most popular?
The single biggest year for Maven was 2023, when 204 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maven is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maven in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 841 people with the name Maven, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,106 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Maven in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Maven?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Maven on both sides of the split. Of the 845 people counted with this name, 299 were male (35.4%) and 546 were female (64.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Maven?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maven is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.2%) and Two or More Races (10.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Maven most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maven in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (483 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Maven in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maven a female name?
Yes, 70.5% of people registered as Maven in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Maven still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maven in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Maven can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Maven as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Maven on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.