Baby Name of the Day: Maverick

The baby name Maverick has gone from cowboy cool to flyboy to Top 100 favorite.

Thanks to Macy for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME MAVERICK MEAN?

There’s something uniquely American about the baby name Maverick.

But the surname Maverick? It appears in seventeenth century immigration records – at least in small numbers. Some of the family can trace their roots back to Devon, England.

In 1770, seventeen-year old apprentice carpenter Samuel Maverick died in the Boston Massacre, a confrontation between British soldiers and disgruntled residents.

There’s a Maverick Square in East Boston today, name for the wealthy Maverick family. The head of that family was also named Samuel. 

Samuel of Maverick Square leads us to the Texas rancher who would make the name Maverick famous many years later. 

Neither of these New England Sams, though, can help us determine the meaning of the name Maverick. 

Time for some guesswork.

COULD MAVERICK BE HENRY’S DISTANT COUSIN?

In the Middle Ages, dozens of Rick names were in use.

Rick comes from the Germanic element rih meaning ruler. 

Henry started out as Heimrich – home ruler. There’s also Frederick, peaceful ruler; Roderick, famous ruler; and Richard, brave ruler. Though Richard puts the -rick part fist.

It’s possible Maverick’s origins are wrapped up in all of this. It’s certainly part of the reason why we see Maverick and understand it as a given name. 

But there are other theories, too:

• Could it be a form of Maurice? A Latin name meaning “Moor,” Maurice has been in use across several European languages over many centuries. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources lists Mavrice as a Maurice variant. and this genealogy site suggested the connection, noting that spellings of the surname included Mauerricke, Madericke, Mathericke.
• Worth noting: Derek comes from Theodoric, via Dederick. It means “ruler of the people,” but it’s easy to mix it up with Theodore, meaning “gift of God.” So there’s quite a bit of shifting and settling. Maurerricke to Maverick isn’t a leap at all, though it’s also possible there’s another name we’re missing in the mix.
• Maderic and Matharic could be sources for Maverick. Possible origins for those lost names include a Gallic word meaning good, matu, the Anglo-Saxon maedh, respect, or even some other lost element.
• It’s tempting to imagine a connection to names like Matthew and Maria. After all, names like Matic and Maric developed from those roots. Matthew nicknames like Maw and Mawe could’ve become Mav. But this is pure guesswork. There’s no connection.

Other spellings of the surname appear in the history books, though many of these also developed as modern variations: Maverik, Mavric, Mavrick, Maveryck, and so on. 

If you’re paying attention, we still haven’t figured out the meaning of Maverick. But the New England family has relocated to Texas, and they’re about to define the name for all time.

INDEPENDENT

Texas rancher Samuel A. Maverick refused to brand his cattle.

It’s said he didn’t want to inflict pain on his calves. 

Or maybe it was opportunistic. This way, Maverick could claim any unbranded cattle as his own. 

Other accounts suggest he just wasn’t that interested in ranching in the first place. After all, he was also a lawyer and politician. And he sold his herd later in life.

Whatever his reasons, the name “maverick” meant masterless by the late nineteenth century, and soon after, “independent” in a broader sense.

Samuel’s family helped spread the name.

During the 1930s, his grandson, Maury Maverick, served as a congressman from Texas. Like his grandfather, Maury was known for his fierce independence.

The politician’s years in office track with the name’s transition from obscure surname to something bigger.

NEO-WESTERN NAME

A 1950s James Garner character helped complete the name’s transition.

ABC’s Maverick introduced us to a family of cool-headed gamblers, poker-playing reluctant heroes of the Wild West.

Bret, Bart, Beau, and Brent all shared the surname Maverick during the show’s run, between the years 1957 and 1962.

It inspired a handful of parents to embrace the baby name Maverick. 32 boys were named Maverick in 1957, followed by 89 in 1958. That was just enough to put the name in the Top 1000 popular boys’ names during 1958 and 1959.

The name faded slowly, with just a dozen or fewer receiving the name after the Western TV series left the air.

MAVERICK TAKES FLIGHT

And then came the Tom Cruise character.

The 1986 smash hit movie Top Gun starred a young Tom Cruise as a brilliant combat pilot, tapped to attend the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, better known as Top Gun. (Yup, it’s real.)

Tom Cruise played a character named Pete Mitchell. But you’d have to be a superfan to know that. Even Pete introduces himself by his call sign:

PETE: “I’m Maverick.”

CHARLOTTE: “Maverick? Did your mother not like you or something?”

PETE: “No, it’s my call sign.”

CHARLOTTE: “You’re a pilot.” 

PETE: “That’s right. Naval aviator.”

Of course, Charlotte has a call sign of her own. She’s Charlie, an astrophysicist and defense instructor at Top Gun.

As the hero of the movie, Mav suffers setbacks and heartache, but ultimately saves the day.

The action movie included plenty of drama, a soaring soundtrack, and a happy (enough) ending. Can’t remember the details? Kenny Loggins’ soundtrack song “Danger Zone” has the highlights, Ray-Bans and all.

As with any film so successful, it stayed in the public eye thanks to subsequent releases of the DVD, anniversary collections, and years upon years of speculations about possible sequels.

Because fans have been clamoring for a sequel ever since 1986. After several pandemic-related delays, the new movie debuted in 2022.

Top Gun: Maverick gave us the continuing story of Pete Mitchell. And, like the original, it’s also a hit.

MAVERICK  ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Then along came the 2008 campaign for the US presidency.

Barack Obama would win, but before that could happen, John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, would adopt the term “maverick” for themselves.

Arizona’s McCain and Alaska’s Palin hailed from places that felt rugged and untamed. Even before he ran for the highest office in the land, maverick described McCain’s strong independent streak, often breaking with his party on key issues over a long political career.

It’s possible to imagine that “maverick” could have become an overtly political term tied to a single party. Indeed, a handful of conservative uses remain, more than a dozen years later. But it never really stuck.

After all, the hallmark of a maverick is … independence.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME MAVERICK?

When we left Maverick, the television series, the year was 1959, and the baby name Maverick had just ended its last year in the boys’ Top 1000.

The name had fallen to near-obscurity by Top Gun’s 1986 release. Just 19 boys received the name that year.

By 1987? The number climbed to 44.

A few years later, in 1994, the character of Bret Maverick was re-booted in a big screen movie starring Mel Gibson.

And that’s the same year that the baby name Maverick returned to the US Top 1000, at #978.

It’s never left.

If anything, the McCain-Palin campaign caused the name to cool just a bit.

But pop culture associations with the name are strong. Besides the aviator and the gambler, the name is shared with an NBA franchise, a Ford pick-up, cigarettes, shotguns, a missile, and at least one roller coaster. (Find it in Sandusky, Ohio’s Cedar Point. It’s Western themed.)

In recent years, Spanish motorcycle racer Maverick Vinales has emerged as another notable with the name.

It entered the US Top 100 in 2017.

As of 2024, the baby name Maverick ranks #36, an all-time high.

A GENERATION OF BOLD BOY NAMES

Parents view independent, free-thinking, and tough as positive qualities; the meanings of the name line up neatly with traits many of us would like to encourage in our children After all, Tom Cruise ends Top Gun a great hero. 

The Texan rancher connection keeps Maverick in the company of neo-Western picks like Stetson and all those names from Yellowstone. 

There’s a bit of danger in the meaning, too. It hints at an appetite for risk beyond what might be considered wise.

But this is the age of bold baby names, a moment when choices like Legend and Wilder, Messiah and Reign are on the rise.

No names outpaces Maverick, though.

That’s the bad news. If you’re after a nonconformist kind of name? Maverick might be one in the crowd.

Still, it appeals for so many good reasons:

• We love a good surname, plus a solid noun name – and this one is both.
• The middle ‘v’ sound is everywhere. Just ask Oliver and Everett. The most popular girls’ names include Ava, Olivia, and Evelyn.
• Boys’ names have ended in -ric for ages, from Frederick and Patrick to Derek and Eric.
• Wyatt, Chase, Colton and more favorites feel at home on the range, and that tracks with Maverick’s Texas connection.

SOARING TO THE TOP

In 2022, the long-delayed sequel Top Gun: Maverick debuted to strong reviews and blockbuster ticket sales.

This time, Maverick is right in the title.

Could the name climb higher?

It continues to do so.

Another factor: we hear popular names differently. No one expects Grace to be a ballerina or Hunter to be a crack shot. As Maverick becomes even more mainstream, it retains all the positives of the name’s meaning, but feels a little easier to wear.

That makes Maverick the most wearable of the bold boy names.

The only real question is how high the name will soar.

What do you think of the baby name Maverick?

First published on January 27, 2008, this post initially dismissed Maverick as unwearable.
Over time, I realized I was wrong at best; snobbish and cruel at worst. Updates followed on January 7, 2013; January 29, 2020; August 9, 2022; and May 30, 2025. 

I hope the revisions indicate that I can change my mind – and be honest when I’ve been wrong. Oh, and, I hope it reminds us all that style changes, constantly, and today’s Hildegarde is tomorrow’s Abigail. And vice versa.