What Is Namemaxxing? Experts Explain the Baby Name Trend

There’s an ongoing cultural obsession with “maxxing,” or optimizing your life in some way. And if you’ve ever endlessly scrolled through the Social Security Administration's annual list of baby names, you’d see that naming is no exception. The latest trend—dubbed “namemaxxing”—could help families who are torn between multiple names find a perfect, and original, name by combining two or more popular options.

The baby-naming checklist can be quite overwhelming. Certain names remind parents of random people they knew growing up, others are too common, and many partners struggle to compromise on one name they really love. With namemaxxing, they can have it all.

What is namemaxxing, exactly?

“Maxxing” has roots and connotations in gaming, and more concerningly, the manosphere, but its mainstream approaches have people enhancing all sorts of different parts of their lives, from upping their protein and fiber intake or proteinmaxxing to testing out all different methods to improve sleep.

Namemaxxing is a little different: It’s a trend spotted by the baby-name site Nameberry, and it involves blending two or more names into one. One example is Mavery, a collaboration between Maeve (No. 76 on the Social Security Administration’s list) and Avery (No. 37).

“Parents are namemaxxing for a variety of reasons, but the most salient one is that it allows them to create a name that feels unique to their child,” explains Sophie Kihm, Nameberry’s editor-in-chief. “These days, there is more pressure than ever to choose a special, thoughtful baby name. For many parents, creating a brand new name for their baby is as thoughtful as it gets!”

Unlike other invented names, Kihm notes that namemaxxing is all about carrying the essence of the names in the mix. So while it’s becoming more common to tack on trendy syllables—think Gracelyn or Bexley—that’s not exactly namemaxxing, she says.

The different approaches to namemaxxing

Though there’s one specific methodology, Kihm says parents become namemaxxers for one of two reasons: They’re deliberately choosing them for their uniqueness, or they want to honor loved ones in a more creative way. If you’re concerned about the high ranking of a baby name or two you love, bringing them together (i.e. Mavery) is one way to help your child’s name stand out.

Then there’s the sentimental pull to namemaxxing. “If a parent has always loved the name Benjamin but wants to honor their father Daniel, Beniel is a solution that satisfies all of the criteria,” suggests Kihm.

Examples of namemaxxed names

Below is a few thought-starters, courtesy of Nameberry, along with the names used to construct them. And while the inspirations behind these often fall in the top 100 baby names, the end result is totally unique. Each of the following is out of the top 1,000 in U.S. history, according to the Social Security Administration website.