Max was transformed from cigar-chomping grandpa to rosy-cheeked baby in the 1980s, along with card-playing partners Sam and Jake.

Never quite as popular as it seemed, Max is now, at Number 105, close to the the highest it's been on the Social Security list since 1917, when German-sounding names went out of favor. The character name Max in the children's classic Where the Wild Things Are had an impact on baby namers. The name is currently in the Top 20 in Britain, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

Max has been a popular starbaby name for decades, most recently for the sons of Christina Aguilera, Cynthia Nixon and Charlie Sheen, while other celebs, such as Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, have used more formal appellations--Maximilian, Maxwell, Maxfield--on the birth certificate to get to the nickname Max. Skater Scott Hamilton put his own spin on it by maximizing the spelling of his son's name to Maxx.

Warning: Max has long been the top name for canines.