Maxwel
Great stream or great spring; great water spring.
Name Census estimates that about 263 living Americans carry the first name Maxwel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Maxwel today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maxwel births was 2001 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maxwel. 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 Maxwel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
263
~ 1 in 1,303,248 Americans
Peak year
2001
21 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,489
Tracked since 1987
Census
Maxwel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 363 people with the first name Maxwel, which placed it at #25,907 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
#25,907
National first-name rank
People counted
363
363 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maxwel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maxwel is White at 69.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.3%) and Black (8.5%). 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 Maxwel 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 Maxwel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.1% · 251
- Hispanic or Latino14.3% · 52
- Black or African American8.5% · 31
- Two or more races4.1% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 14
Popularity
Maxwel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maxwel from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 131 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maxwel 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 Maxwel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maxwel
The name Maxwel is derived from the Germanic name Maxwell, which originated as a surname in the 12th century. It is a combination of the Old English words "maec" meaning "mighty" and "welle" meaning "spring" or "stream". The name was initially used to describe someone who lived near a great spring or stream.
The earliest recorded use of the name Maxwel can be traced back to the 12th century in England. It was borne by a prominent Scottish family, the Maxwells, who held lands in Roxburghshire. The name gained prominence during the Middle Ages, and several notable individuals bore this name.
One of the earliest known figures with the name Maxwel was Sir John Maxwell (c. 1283 - 1356), a Scottish noble and military leader who fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence under King Robert the Bruce. He played a crucial role in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where the Scots defeated the English forces.
Another historical figure with the name Maxwel was James Maxwell (c. 1500 - 1593), a Scottish mathematician and scholar who served as a tutor to King James VI of Scotland. He was a prominent figure in the Scottish Reformation and was known for his translations of various religious texts.
In the 17th century, Robert Maxwell (1608 - 1673) was a Scottish writer and historian who authored several works on Scottish history and genealogy. His book "The Genealogical History of the Most Illustrious and Most Ancient Family of the Maxwells" is considered a valuable resource for understanding the history of the Maxwell clan.
The name Maxwel also gained prominence in the field of science with the legendary physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879). He is renowned for his groundbreaking work on electromagnetic theory, which laid the foundations for modern physics. His equations, known as Maxwell's equations, are fundamental to the study of electromagnetism.
Another notable figure with the name Maxwel was Sir William Maxwell (1858 - 1939), a British novelist and playwright who wrote under the pen name "St. John G. Ervine". He was a prolific writer and is best known for his novels depicting life in Northern Ireland during the early 20th century.
While the name Maxwel has its roots in the Middle Ages, it continues to be used as a given name in various parts of the world, paying tribute to its rich historical significance and the remarkable individuals who have borne this name throughout the centuries.
People
Maxwel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maxwel 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
Maxwel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maxwel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 263 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maxwel 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 1,303,248 US residents.
Is Maxwel a common name?
We classify Maxwel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maxwel most popular?
The single biggest year for Maxwel was 2001, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maxwel is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maxwel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 363 people with the name Maxwel, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,907 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 Maxwel 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 Maxwel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maxwel appears almost entirely male. Of the 369 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Maxwel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maxwel is White at 69.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.3%) and Black (8.5%). 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 Maxwel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maxwel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.1% (251 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 Maxwel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maxwel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maxwel in the SSA data are male. 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 Maxwel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maxwel 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 Maxwel 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 the name Maxwel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.