Aleksandr Nikolayevich Maksimov (Russian: Александр Николаевич Максимов; 13 August 1872 – 24 April 1941) was a Soviet ethnographer who focused on the history of the family, the clan and the economy.

[1] After returning to Moscow, Maksimov was made head of the ethnographic department of the Society of the Aficionados of the Natural Sciences, Anthropology and Ethnography (OLEAE), and for many years contributed book reviews to the Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie, gaining recognition and respect among Russian ethnographers.

[1] Maksimov belonged to the school of ethnologists in Russia that depended on foreign literature for information on hunter-gatherers in other parts of the world, as opposed to those who concentrated on a careful study of ethnic groups within the country.

[5] Maksimov attended a major gathering of ethnologists in Moscow between 28 December 1909 and 6 January 1910, the largest such meeting in the Russian Empire, where he was a keynote speaker.

[7] In 1926 Maksimov was a consultant to the Council of Nationalities of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union, involved in a debate over how to determine which narodnost, or ethnic group, people belonged to in a forthcoming census.