Maxwell or Maximilian?

[Rainingpouring1]

Which do you prefer?

Neither. Just Max would be my preference.

I’d just go for Max too. I don’t think it needs any embellishment. It’s a great name!

Maximilian is pretentious.

I like Max.

Maximus

Neither. Max is nice on its own

How about Maxfield, like the painter Maxfield Parrish?

Neither. Just Max.

God neither

It's not pretentious. It's Polish.

Would you ever actually call him by the longer name, either way?

We just have a Max. Birth certificate just says Max. Much easier.

Neither!

Maximilian by far. I like it.
I wouldn’t consider Maxwell.

I like that

I understand wanting to give a full name to your child and use a nickname. But I must admit I don’t like either. What about Maddox?

I prefer just Max.

I prefer Maximilian. It has more of European vibe like Sebastian.

Maxwell on the other hand makes me imagine a little boy with a bow tie, outsized specs and a briefcase.

Max is fine as a standalone name. If you do intend to actually use the full name, I prefer Maxwell of the two. Five syllables is much too long, making Maximilian a real mouthful. I know a few Polish boys with this name (various spellings) and all are just known as Max/Maks.

I can't remember if Max in Rebecca is Maximilian on his birth certificate, but he is often called Maxim de Winter, so that's another option, but I still much prefer Max. What a boon to have a nice short name that everybody can pronounce and everybody can spell, and which (at the moment, anyway) will often be on mugs, keyrings and other personalised items.

Maxwell makes me think of the little boy in the Adrian Mole book, who Adrian refers to as Maxwell House.

Maximilian is fantastic, I think. It has real character. I never understand quite what people mean when they say on here that a name is pretentious. Presumably, they think the name in question should be the preserve of the very rich, or the upper classes, and they assume the OP is neither of these things and should therefore stick to a name more in keeping with their socioeconomic standing? Who knows.

Maxwell makes me think of Robert Maxwell. But that is an association for my generation, kids being born now will never hear of him.

Max was on our list of baby names for DS and I was torn between Max as a standalone name or Maximilian nn Max. I think I would have gone for Max as I’d have never used the full name and there’ll always be the issue of ‘is that one ‘l’ or two?’. Not keen on Maxwell.

Maximilian is fab! I wish exdp had liked it as that is what ds20 would have been.

I prefer Maximilian. But don't like Max as standalone at all, so both Maxwell and Maximilian are good.

I'm not keen on using short name for child because short names are popular for a dog for a reason. Dogs tend to remember shorter names better.