From Samuel Maverick, a Texas rancher who left his cattle unbranded — independent; unbranded calf. His surname became a word for a nonconformist, then a given name after Top Gun.
Maverick ranks 49th among American boys in 2025, with 5,954 born that year. Its best year was 2022, when 7,147 babies were given the name, ranking 40th. The typical living American called Maverick is about 6 years old today. It is relatively most common in Alaska, where it accounts for 0.61% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.