Maverick

MAV·rik · 2 syllables

Maverick is a familiar, currently well-used name.

90/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

Pronunciation & Spelling
Clear, with one common misreading
91/100
Everyday Use
Low risk
Shortens naturally in everyday use, with two established short forms.
95/100
Growing Up
Strong lifetime fit
Works comfortably across child and adult settings.
82/100
International Use
Broad international fit
Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.
85/100

NAME DETAILS

COMMON FORMS: Mav; Rick

ORIGIN & HISTORY

About the name

Maverick is a rare case of a name whose entire chain — real historical rancher, to common noun for unbranded cattle, to metaphor for independence, to 1950s TV Western title, to 1980s/2020s blockbuster-film call sign, to modern given name — is independently documented at every step rather than assumed folklore.

Maverick (English; originally the surname Maverick). An unbranded/independently-roaming animal, and by extension an independent-minded, unconventional person. The word itself dates to 1867 in American ranching usage (unbranded cattle); its figurative 'independent person' sense is documented from 1886, with a documented 1930s political-usage boost from Maury Maverick; its use as a given name is a 20th–21st-century phenomenon layered on top of that older word history.
Mythological and religious contextNo mythological or religious origin; the name is a secular, historically-documented word/surname origin.

POPULARITY

Maverick over time

United States

#49RANK

Rank #49 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Widely recognized, but less suited to parents seeking rarity. Ranked #49 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

MAV·rik

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

COMMON FORMS

Mav
Rick

PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Reads as bold and trend-forward for a young child, consistent with its recent (post-2008, especially post-2021) sharp rise in US usage.

INTO ADULTHOOD

As a given name it has essentially no long-run adult-usage track record yet in the sources checked — it did not sustain top-1000 usage before the 21st century, so how it 'ages' into adult professional contexts is not yet established by the data available, only inferable from the underlying word's long-standing informal-professional use (e.g., in politics/business, calling someone 'a maverick').

Cultural Footprint

Strongly associated with contemporary American naming trends favoring 'virtue' or 'trait' words (independence, boldness) turned into given names, layered on top of a specifically Texan ranching-history word origin.

TRACEABLE ORIGIN

Samuel A. Maverick (1803–1870)Era
Maury Maverick (1895–1954)Era

Community Impressions

Maverick had already appeared as a baby name in 1957–58 thanks to a TV Western, all but vanished afterward, was reignited in 1986 when Tom Cruise's character Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell appeared in the film Top Gun, and then spiked to an all-time peak of roughly 7,000+ US births in 2022 — the same year Top Gun: Maverick was in theaters — a two-film-franchise arc that is unusually well-documented in year-by-year SSA birth data for a single given name.

How this name is commonly received · not used in the score

More about Maverick

FORMALITY

Functions as a complete given name with no separate formal form; it originated as an informal/vernacular word, which may keep a slightly less 'traditional' formal register than names with deep classical/biblical roots.

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Maverick is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

English speakers will most likely pronounce it correctly on the first try. Uses standard characters that systems widely handle cleanly.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK