Why Mark Zuckerberg Named His Daughter Max

December 4, 2015

Earlier this week,

The baby’s full name is actually Maxima “Max” Chan Zuckerberg, which now has us wondering where the name comes from.

It turns out, Max is an old Zuckerberg family name that comes from two of Zuckerberg’s great-grandfathers on his father’s side.

A spokesperson for the Zuckerberg family only confirmed that Max was named after family members, but with the help of Ancestry, CNNMoney found the public records for the Facebook founder’s family tree.

One of Zuckerberg’s great-grandfathers was named Max Zuckerberg. As the son of immigrants from Austria/Galicia, Zuckerberg was born in 1899 in New York City. When he was 18-years-old, Zuckerberg was drafted in World War I and records show he was a clerk at the Treasury Department. His draft card describes him as having brunette hair, brown eyes, medium height and a stout build.

He and his wife Minnie had three children — one of them, Jack, was Mark Zuckerberg’s grandfather. Zuckerberg also worked as a fruit peddler and died in New York in 1948 at the age of 48.

Then there was Marcus “Max” Hollander, another of Zuckerberg’s great-grandfathers. Hollander was born in 1874 in Hungary and immigrated to America before 1900.

Hollander was also drafted in World War I and is described on his draft card as short, slender and having brown hair and eyes. He listed his name as Max, instead of Marcus. In a 1940 census report, Max listed himself as a self-employed tailor.

Hollander and his wife Rose had a large family, according to several census documents, and one of their youngest daughters, Miriam, became Mark Zuckerberg’s grandmother. Records do not indicate when Hollander passed away.

Ancestry also tried to look into Priscilla Chan’s family history but did not find any records.

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