On Mavericks


A good eyeroll is more vital than ever at a time when every day brings American news that makes a kind and virtuous person want to tear out their hair. So have a chuckle at this!

In 2017, in the wake of Donald Trump's first being elected, the name "Maverick" suddenly entered the top hundred names for babies presumed boys, riding an explosive trend in popularity.

About the origins of this name: "Maverick" was the last name of some 1800s Texas lawyer. He had a client who didn't have the cash to pay his bill, so the client gave Maverick 400 cattle instead. The befuddled Mr. Maverick had no interest in managing cows--he was happy with his job as a lawyer. So he never had them branded and just set them loose to wander the local lands and graze. This led to most of them being stolen, but the idea of Maverick's cattle roaming free and unbranded struck cowboys of the era as romantic. They started calling any unbranded wandering bovine they came across "a maverick." And this evolved into "maverick" becoming a slang term for a person who refused to be bound by rules or conventions and followed his own atypical path in life. A unique character like no other. A rebel.

In 2020, the name "Maverick" became the 50th most popular name for boys. By 2024, it had reached spot #36 on the popularity list. A total of 6,615 newborns were given the name that year. A name meaning "unique, a person like no other, one who doesn't follow the herd."

The name Maverick is now more commonplace among tots than Tom or Josh or Christopher or Jonathan! It is about as unique as driving a Ford Maverick pickup truck is rebellious. Or as novel as nostalgia for a world pictured in 1950s television shows like the cowboy series Maverick--a world that only ever existed in fantasy and hence can't be "brought back again."

Worth a good eyeroll.

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