The Maxwell surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 67,961 people carried this name — #490 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 4,340 people counted. That is up 3% from 65,779 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Maxwell surname
A Scottish habitational surname from Mackeswell near Melrose.
From an earlier form Mackeswell, meaning "Mack's well or spring", from Old English welle (“well”).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Maxwell» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Ireland’s birth registers, 1890
Ireland registered 68 births for the Maxwell name in 1890.
They were registered in all four provinces, most of all in Ulster. By the Registrar-General’s own method — births multiplied by 44.38 — that is about 3,000 people bearing the name in Ireland at the time. The Registrar-General’s note on the name: “Antrim, Down, and Dublin.”
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born, 1890
Registrar-General for Ireland, «Special Report on Surnames in Ireland» (R. E. Matheson, 1894), births index of 1890 — public domain.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 117 people named Maxwell live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 44 people named Maxwell.
19 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 9 départements, most often Gironde.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
39 people named Maxwell live in Switzerland.
They live in 7 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Geneva.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In the Nordic population registers
41 people named Maxwell is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s
Maxwell was found among the farmers of Cambridgeshire: 20 in every 10,000.
Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent.
Where it concentrates, on the mapPer 10,000 farmers, by county
H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.
In Scotland, 1880s
Maxwell was 27 in every 10,000 names in Scotland.
That is about 1 in 370. Its home there, in Guppy’s words: “Dumfriesshire.” He counted the more than 20,000 names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, taking Scotland as a whole, and listed only the names that reached 10 in every 10,000.
H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), appendix: alphabetical list of the most frequent Scottish names, p. 592 — public domain · names in Halliburton’s County Directory of Scotland, per 10,000 for the whole country.
In Scotland’s registers today
Maxwell was recorded 131 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.
That made it the 181st most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 210. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.
National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the first U.S. census, 1790
138 families named Maxwell, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.
Each family is counted by its head. About 830 people lived in those households, 6 to a family on average. The table counts it together with 3 other spellings. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.
Families, by state
U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 251 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.
In print
Maxwell in American newspapers,
1827–1888.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 19,280 pages in all carry the name.
In print
Maxwell in Australian newspapers,
1820s–2010s.
188,178 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Maxwell. The most, 34,921, date from the 1920s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in Victoria, at 1.3 times its expected share.
Articles, by state
Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Maxwell.
Who carried it
People named Maxwell,
with a public archive behind them.
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Anne Maxwell d. 1684 · printer
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Alexa Maxwell d. 1995 · aristocrat
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Doris Maxwell d. 1998 · entomologist
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Patrick Hay Maxwell d. 1868 · priest
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James Maxwell d. 1792
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Robert Maxwell d. 1622
Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
In the public record
People named Maxwell,
in the records of 8 countries.
Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.
United States7,238 records
- U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 2,220
- New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 1,640
- Other U.S. records 3,378
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Example: U.S. war memorial War record Dennis Ray MaxwellBorn 1947; from St Louis, Missouri. U.S. Marine Corps, rifleman; died in an accident 1968 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam. Buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Missouri.
U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) -
Example: U.S. registration card, 1942 Military record Lynn T. MaxwellBorn 1913 in Ohio. Enlisted 1943 at Columbus; driver from Clark County. U.S. Army Air Forces veteran of World War II; died 1986, buried at Dayton National Cemetery, Ohio.
U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) -
Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record Mary MaxwellArrived at New York in 1885 aboard the Baltic from Liverpool and Queenstown, aged 18; servant. From Strabane, Ireland.
U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)
Showing 3 of 7,238 records for Maxwell in the United States.
Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0) · City of Asheville (public domain, PDDL) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).
Australia2,689 records
- Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 1,396
- Victoria wills and probate, deaths to 2001 454
- Other Australian records 839
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Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829 Transportation record Robert MaxwellTransported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the British Sovereign, sailing from London & Dublin in 1840. Native of Antrim. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1845. Married 1845 in Hobart, Tasmania, aged 26.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: probate petition, 1848 Probate record Caroline MaxwellDied 1898 in Mersey, Tasmania, aged 43. Will registered in Tasmania in 1898.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: probate petition, 1848 Probate record Crawford Mayne MaxwellDied 1894 in Hobart, Tasmania, aged 77. Will registered in Tasmania in 1894.
Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 3 of 2,689 records for Maxwell in Australia.
Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · City of Ballarat, Avenue of Honour Plaques (CC BY 3.0 AU). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).
Canada747 records
- Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 545
- Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 53
- Other Canadian records 149
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Example: passenger manifest, 1903 Passenger record Jas MaxwellCame to Ontario in 1873 aboard the N. American, landing at Quebec, bound for Gilford, Ontario; Irish.
Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. -
Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record Prudence MaxwellBuried in 1978 at Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 83.
City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. -
Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record Celeste MaxwellBuried in 1976 at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, aged 94.
Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax.
Showing 3 of 747 records for Maxwell in Canada.
Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · Contains information provided by the City of Waterloo under licence. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).
United Kingdom128 records
- War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 54
- Stirling Council burial records 49
- Other British records 25
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Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919 War record Robert Irvine MaxwellBorn 1895 at Glasgow. Served in the First World War. Named in the University of Aberdeen roll of service in the Great War, 1914-1919.
National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) -
Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Thomas MaxwellBuried in 1946 at Ballengeich Cemetery, Stirling, Scotland, aged 87.
Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. -
Example: probate petition, 1848 Probate record Walter James MaxwellWill proved in 1937; of Rhuddlan, Flint.
National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0)
Showing 3 of 128 records for Maxwell in the United Kingdom.
Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Stirling Council. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Scotland, Rolls of Honour (public domain) · MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. · National Library of Wales, Wills Index Cards (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0); Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); Petition to the probate court, St. Louis, 1848, Missouri Historical Society (public domain).
New Zealand67 records
- Christchurch City cemetery records 46
- Thames-Coromandel District cemetery records 14
- Other New Zealand records 7
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Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Edgar Charles MaxwellDied 1943, aged 58; buried at Ruru Lawn, Christchurch, Canterbury.
Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record James Donald MaxwellDied 1995, aged 73; buried at Totara Memorial Park Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato.
Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record William MaxwellDied 1938, aged 85; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.
Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 3 of 67 records for Maxwell in New Zealand.
Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).
Netherlands29 records
- Dutch church registers before 1811 20
- Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 7
- Dutch population registers 2
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Example: civil register, 1880 Death record John MaxwellDied 1883 in 's-Gravenzande, aged 30.
Open Archives, Historisch Archief Westland (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: civil register, 1880 Death record John MaxwellDied 1842 in Rotterdam, aged 53.
Open Archives, Stadsarchief Rotterdam (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: marriage register, 1911 Marriage record Ella Agnes MaxwellMarried in 1925 in Kalaw.
Open Archives, Haags Gemeentearchief (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 3 of 29 records for Maxwell in the Netherlands.
Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0); Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).
France22 records
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Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Patrick John William MaxwellBorn 1935 in Bordeaux; died 1975 in Lesparre-Médoc (Gironde).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte) -
Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Georgette Ernestine MaxwellBorn 1907 in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines); died 2000 in Pontoise (Val-d'Oise).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte) -
Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Guy Jacques Henri MaxwellBorn 1950 in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Paris); died 1999 in Dijon (Côte-d'Or).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
Showing 3 of 22 records for Maxwell in France.
Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).
Ireland10 records
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Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Thomas MaxwellDied 1879, aged 53; buried at St Thomas, Co. Galway.
Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0) -
Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record George MaxwellDied 1828, aged 54; buried at Kilcummin, Co. Galway.
Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0)
Showing 2 of 10 records for Maxwell in Ireland.
Counts: Galway County Council (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Maxwell.
- Mauvais 223 · U.S. census
- Max 2,769 · U.S. census
- Maxey 10,584 · U.S. census
- Maxfield 5,987 · U.S. census
- Maxime 312 · U.S. census
- Maxson 4,573 · U.S. census
- May 103,306 · U.S. census
- Maya 10,313 · U.S. census
- Mayan 321 · U.S. census
- Mayans 162 · U.S. census
- Mayard 370 · U.S. census
- Mayberry 14,326 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
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