Meaning and background
The story behind Maximus
Maximus is an ancient Roman name formed from the Latin superlative meaning “greatest”. It was used as a Roman cognomen and later became a given name in the wider Maximilian family. Unlike the ordinary English adjective “maximum”, Maximus is itself a documented historical personal-name form. It makes a striking three-syllable dog name, but its grand etymological sense should be presented as linguistic history, not as an assessment of a pet.
- Origin
- Ancient Roman cognomen Maximus, derived from Latin maximus “greatest”. Source
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About Maximus
Recorded as a dog’s name
Maximus appears in 85 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/mæksəməs/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/mæksəməs/ · primary stress on syllable 1M AE1 K S AH0 M AH0 S
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.