Maxine
The feminine form of Maximus, meaning "greatest".
Name Census estimates that about 32,251 living Americans carry the first name Maxine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maxine today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maxine births was 1924 (3,672 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maxine. 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 Maxine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Maxine is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 377 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
32K
~ 1 in 10,628 Americans
Peak year
1924
3,672 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1951 SSA rank
#520
Tracked since 1884
Census
Maxine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 43,205 people with the first name Maxine, which placed it at #996 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
#996
National first-name rank
People counted
43K
43,205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maxine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maxine is White at 60.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.7%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Maxine 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 Maxine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.5% · 26,155
- Black or African American26.7% · 11,515
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 2,663
- Two or more races2.9% · 1,260
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 1,063
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 549
Gender
Gender distribution for Maxine
Out of the 115,387 babies given the name Maxine since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Maxine as a male name
- Ranked #2,988 in 1951
- 8 male births in 1951
- Peak: 1928 (21 births)
Maxine as a female name
- Ranked #520 in 2024
- 591 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (3,659 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maxine appears almost entirely female. Of the 43,204 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Maxine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maxine from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 33,872 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maxine 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 Maxine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maxines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Michigan, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Maxine, while Alaska, Delaware, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,187 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maxine
The name Maxine is a feminine given name that has its origins in the French language. It is derived from the Latin name Maximus, which means "greatest" or "largest". The name Maximus was a common Roman name given to boys, particularly in the imperial families.
Maxine first emerged as a distinct feminine form of the name in the late 19th century. It is believed to have been influenced by the popular French names Maxime and Maximilien, which were also derived from the Latin Maximus.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Maxine can be found in the 1891 novel "The Damnation of Theron Ware" by American author Harold Frederic. In the novel, a character named Maxine appears as the daughter of a Catholic priest.
Throughout the early 20th century, the name Maxine gained popularity in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States and Canada. One of the earliest notable individuals with the name was Maxine Elliott (1868-1940), an American actress and theatrical producer.
Another famous Maxine was Maxine Kumin (1925-2014), an American poet and author who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1973. She was known for her works that explored themes of nature, family, and feminism.
In the world of entertainment, Maxine Andrews (1916-1995) was an American singer and a member of the popular vocal group, The Andrews Sisters. The group was known for their close harmonies and their hits during World War II, such as "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy".
Maxine Cooper (1916-2002) was a Canadian dancer and choreographer who founded the Maxine Cooper School of Dance in Toronto. She was a pioneer in the field of modern dance in Canada and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1979.
Maxine Peake (born 1974) is a contemporary British actress known for her roles in various television shows and films, including "Shameless", "Silk", and "The Village". She has received numerous awards and nominations for her performances.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Maxine. The name has endured as a popular choice for girls, with its roots in the Latin language and its association with strength and greatness.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Maxine
People
Maxine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maxine 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
Maxine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maxine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32,251 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maxine 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 10,628 US residents.
Is Maxine a common name?
We classify Maxine as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 115,387 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maxine most popular?
The single biggest year for Maxine was 1924, when 3,672 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maxine is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maxine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 43,205 people with the name Maxine, or 14.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #996 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 Maxine 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 Maxine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maxine appears almost entirely female. Of the 43,204 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Maxine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maxine is White at 60.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.7%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Maxine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maxine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.5% (26,155 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 Maxine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maxine a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Maxine 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 Maxine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maxine 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 Maxine 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 share the name Maxine?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.