Magnus

What Magnus means

Means “great”

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.

Source: Wiktionary, “Magnus” (revision 94541423), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Magnus?

US: Rising: up from #853 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #406 in 2015, #432 now.

Biggest US share so far: 2021, when 354 boys got the name (#729 that year). First in the US records in 1890.

How common

• About 1 in 5,068 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,988 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 479 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ND (1.49 per 1,000 boys), ID (0.81 per 1,000 boys), OR (0.73 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Magnus is #763 in the US and #432 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Magnus were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Magnus

Boys

• Atticus#281“the Attic, the Athenian, a cognomen”^*
• Sebastian#16“august, venerable, exalted”^*
• Julian#25“Roman personal name”^*
• Titus#358“honorable”^*
• Lukas#288“a man from Lucania”^*
• Azariah#472“Yah Has Helped”^*

For a sister

• Arabella#213Editor’s note Steady in the US: #194 in 2015 and #213 in 2025
• Luna#27“the moon”^*
• Lucy#24“light”^*
• Zara#212“flower”^*
• Harmony#276From the word “harmony”^*
• Clara#63“bright, shining, clear”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Magnus’s. Rank is US 2025.