What's a Maxi?

Gracia Maxi Dress(shop similar)/ Chanel Bag/ Kate Spade Sunglasses/ BaubleBar Necklace/ Michael Kors Watch/ NY&Co Watch/ Forever 21 & Nordstrom Bracelets

For a long time now I've been walking around in Maxi Dresses wondering why the heck we call them Maxi Dresses. Yes, I do in fact have [some] common sense and realize that it's maximum length but the term Maxi isn't used for much else besides Maxi Pads right? Well I finally I decided to Yahoo it [because I hate Google] and found out that I was not alone in my 'Why Maxi?' quest:

4 Years ago Liana K. was wondering the same thing and got some Yahoo! Answers

I'm thinking that the most reasonable explanation is that a Maxi Dress is opposite of a Mini Dress, but I think I like Ken E.'s response better:

'The Aztec women averaged 8 feet tall, when they put on the regular dresses, they were way to short. Metacolumba (the chief) said to the dressmakers "make them much longer." The dressmakers responded with "how long?". Metacolumba said "MAXI".'

Any other good explanations out there?