Great name, surprised no one referred to the movie ‘A good year’ where Maximilian Skinner is the main character! It has a very aristocratic sound to it…
Not my style — too long, complicated, and over-the-top for a little boy. Of course, I shouldn’t necessarily be saying that seeing as there’s a possibility that a future daughter could end up being named Guinevere (Mark’s suggestion, and one that I haven’t actually vetoed since it could be used as a tribute to my mum).
I took Roseanna to her first swim class today and one of her swimming companions is a little Maxwell. I prefer Maxwell to most other Max variants, but even then it’s not a name I’m particularly fond of.
One of my good friends is naming her baby on the way Maximilian, and calls him baby Max. He is being named after her husband (who is in his late 20s), but she gets upset if you call him a junior. He is going to have a different middle name, so he’s not a junior according to her. I wasn’t aware of that being the difference—is that true?
I think it’s a cute name, but I’m not a big fan of naming after the dad. We are also a “Max and Luby” house…as my 2 year old calls them.
I’ve heard that from friends before – that the son has to have the same first *and* middle name to officially be a Junior. Though our friends named their son with the same first and middle name as Dad and he’s a II ( 2 / 2nd) on the birth certificate, I think (rather than a Jr.) I looked it up once on wikipedia, but I don’t remember now.
Max is cool – I do like it because I didn’t grow up knowing any Maxes. 🙂 I don’t think I know any preschoolers with the name either right now.
We somewhat considered it for our 2 year old son. Mainly it was suggested to us by my in-laws and my brother-in-law. Which made me not want to use it, because I didn’t really want family picking the name for us. I wanted something more unexpected. My brother in law did go on to name one of his cats ‘Max’ so that worked out. 😛
I probably would have either gone with Max or Maxwell because that’s the most familiar version of the name for me. Maximilian is nice enough, but a little too much like “Max-ee-million” which sounds like it should be some really rich fancy guy. We also considered Sam – which would have been Samuel – which makes me feel like Max should have a longer version, but I’m not really comfortable with any of them. So it’s good that we didn’t decide on Max really.
Well, as much as I like Max, I’ve grown somewhat tired of it. I have a friend with a little Max (Maximus in full) and I know one other Max (not sure what, if anything his full name is). Then Max and Ruby on Nick Jr. is a staple in our house, currently. (Also, I know about a dozen Magnuses, no joke. I worked for a Swedish company for a while and Magnus is as ubiquitous as Mike.)
With that said, Max is fun and cute and I do understand the appeal… but Maxx? Erm, the double x on names just doesn’t sit well with me… it evokes adult films, ‘gentlemen’s clubs’, and somewhat less distastefully, the new Dos Equis commercials. I think Max, much like Maddie, Belle/Bella, Izzy, and Lily, ends up even more popular because of the long list of names for which it’s a nick name, in addition to being a name given in full (just as Abby points out), and that’s a big bummer. Maximilian might be somewhat rare, but Max isn’t. It’s exactly the dilemma we faced considering Isadora for our daughter – she’d be one of many Izzies, anyway, despite her ‘unique’ full name – definitely part of why we shied away from the name, although not the main reason, admittedly.
As for pronunciation, I say Maximilian: MAX-a-MILL-yuhn. Like Max-a-million, wrong though it might be! It would not cross my mind to say MEEL-ee-ahn at the end, unless I were talking to a Spanish-speaker, and then I would definitely say MEEL-ee-ahn.
Thing is, I *like* Max, but much like so many other popular names that I like, I find them kind of ho-hum, unfortunately.
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Joey says
May 22, 2011 at 12:30 PMGreat name, surprised no one referred to the movie ‘A good year’ where Maximilian Skinner is the main character! It has a very aristocratic sound to it…
Bek says
May 20, 2010 at 11:35 AMIt’s odd. I find this name so overly fussy and yet boring at the same time. Probably because of the ubiquitous Max.
Charlotte Vera says
May 19, 2010 at 1:45 AMNot my style — too long, complicated, and over-the-top for a little boy. Of course, I shouldn’t necessarily be saying that seeing as there’s a possibility that a future daughter could end up being named Guinevere (Mark’s suggestion, and one that I haven’t actually vetoed since it could be used as a tribute to my mum).
I took Roseanna to her first swim class today and one of her swimming companions is a little Maxwell. I prefer Maxwell to most other Max variants, but even then it’s not a name I’m particularly fond of.
Julie says
May 19, 2010 at 12:28 AMToo many letter and syllables…way too formal and over the top.
shelly says
May 18, 2010 at 6:14 PMOne of my good friends is naming her baby on the way Maximilian, and calls him baby Max. He is being named after her husband (who is in his late 20s), but she gets upset if you call him a junior. He is going to have a different middle name, so he’s not a junior according to her. I wasn’t aware of that being the difference—is that true?
I think it’s a cute name, but I’m not a big fan of naming after the dad. We are also a “Max and Luby” house…as my 2 year old calls them.
British American says
May 18, 2010 at 10:51 PMI’ve heard that from friends before – that the son has to have the same first *and* middle name to officially be a Junior. Though our friends named their son with the same first and middle name as Dad and he’s a II ( 2 / 2nd) on the birth certificate, I think (rather than a Jr.) I looked it up once on wikipedia, but I don’t remember now.
Bek says
May 20, 2010 at 11:33 AMJr. is in fact only if they share the same exact full name, but people use it otherwise.
British American says
May 18, 2010 at 3:07 PMMax is cool – I do like it because I didn’t grow up knowing any Maxes. 🙂 I don’t think I know any preschoolers with the name either right now.
We somewhat considered it for our 2 year old son. Mainly it was suggested to us by my in-laws and my brother-in-law. Which made me not want to use it, because I didn’t really want family picking the name for us. I wanted something more unexpected. My brother in law did go on to name one of his cats ‘Max’ so that worked out. 😛
I probably would have either gone with Max or Maxwell because that’s the most familiar version of the name for me. Maximilian is nice enough, but a little too much like “Max-ee-million” which sounds like it should be some really rich fancy guy. We also considered Sam – which would have been Samuel – which makes me feel like Max should have a longer version, but I’m not really comfortable with any of them. So it’s good that we didn’t decide on Max really.
Sebastiane says
May 18, 2010 at 12:26 PMMaximilian is a nice continental classic. Love it!
JNE says
May 18, 2010 at 9:15 AMWell, as much as I like Max, I’ve grown somewhat tired of it. I have a friend with a little Max (Maximus in full) and I know one other Max (not sure what, if anything his full name is). Then Max and Ruby on Nick Jr. is a staple in our house, currently. (Also, I know about a dozen Magnuses, no joke. I worked for a Swedish company for a while and Magnus is as ubiquitous as Mike.)
With that said, Max is fun and cute and I do understand the appeal… but Maxx? Erm, the double x on names just doesn’t sit well with me… it evokes adult films, ‘gentlemen’s clubs’, and somewhat less distastefully, the new Dos Equis commercials. I think Max, much like Maddie, Belle/Bella, Izzy, and Lily, ends up even more popular because of the long list of names for which it’s a nick name, in addition to being a name given in full (just as Abby points out), and that’s a big bummer. Maximilian might be somewhat rare, but Max isn’t. It’s exactly the dilemma we faced considering Isadora for our daughter – she’d be one of many Izzies, anyway, despite her ‘unique’ full name – definitely part of why we shied away from the name, although not the main reason, admittedly.
As for pronunciation, I say Maximilian: MAX-a-MILL-yuhn. Like Max-a-million, wrong though it might be! It would not cross my mind to say MEEL-ee-ahn at the end, unless I were talking to a Spanish-speaker, and then I would definitely say MEEL-ee-ahn.
Thing is, I *like* Max, but much like so many other popular names that I like, I find them kind of ho-hum, unfortunately.