Name Awesome

Magnus

#765 in 2025Boys' name

Great

Magnus has been given to 6,172 babies in the U.S. since 1890. In 2025 it ranked #765 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 354 recorded.

Babies named Magnus, 2025

1 in 9,840

Magnus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Magnus: meaning, origin, and history

Great

Latin

What Magnus means

Magnus means “great”, associated with magnus.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Latin magnus (“great”), taken from the title of Carolus Magnus "Charlemagne" by an eleventh century king of Norway, and brought to Scotland in medieval times.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Magnus (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Magnus is used in English, Danish, Estonian, Faroese, German, Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish. Its origins include Latin.

Magnus comes through Latin magnus.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Magnús and Magni.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Magnus is pronounced /ˈmæɡnəs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,172 boys were recorded with the name Magnus between 1890 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 354 in 2021; its best national rank was #719 in 2017.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #801 in 2020 to #765 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #856 in 2015 to #765 in 2025.

How common is Magnus?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 9,840
337 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 5,070
0.02% of boys
Rank, 2025
#765
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
6,820 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Magnus sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1001%
School of 5005%

Put another way: gather 6,820 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Magnus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Magnuss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Magnus was born before 2016 — so the typical Magnus is around 9 today.

Median birth year
2016
About 9 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
38.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
86.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
5,779
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 38.7% of all recorded uses (2,389).

Is Magnus rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−18
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+36
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+91
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.28×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
95.2%
Peak was 2021 (354)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#719
2017

Spellings of Magnus

Magnus is not the most common spelling — Marcus is, with 90.1% against Magnus's 2.3%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Magnus is used

Across 2016–2025, Magnus was most concentrated in Washington — about 1 in 1,667 boys, against 1 in 5,306 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in 50,000).

260 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Washington1 in 1,667
  2. 2Utah1 in 2,000
  3. 3Minnesota1 in 2,041
  4. 4Oregon1 in 2,439
  5. 5Alaska1 in 2,632
  6. 6Idaho1 in 2,703
  7. 7Colorado1 in 2,941
  8. 8Wisconsin1 in 3,226

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Magnus is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 67% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Magnus around the world

Where Magnus ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #432
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #122
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2015–2023
    #312
    in 2023
  • Ireland
    2019–2019
    #764
    in 2019
  • France
    2001–2025
    #1,745
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #17
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #529
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1960–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Magnus

People whose public names include Magnus, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Magnus in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Magnus. Linked forms have their own page here.

MagnoMånsMaunoMogensMagnuss

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Magnus by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#765
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 36
Best rank ever
#719
2017
Peak year
2021
354 that year
First recorded
1890
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,172
Count in 2025
337

Names similar to Magnus

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

LinusMagdielYunusMagicMagdalenoMaggieMaguireMagnumYounusSylvanusAdonusMarinusJonusDominusManusVenusMagnoMagedLenusSilvanusMagniMinusMagaliVernus

Names with a curve like Magnus

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Magnus, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

LachlanKannonGreyAbdielZaidRaydenYahyaKylenJeremiasBriarAhmirJoziah

Sibling names for Magnus

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Magnus

Top names of 2021, Magnus's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2017Boys' names starting with MAncient Roman NamesDanish Boy NamesIcelandic Boy NamesLatin Boy NamesNorwegian Boy NamesSwedish Boy Names