Head to head · Boys' names
Mason vs Maverick
#39 vs #49 in 2025 · Old French vs English roots
Mason is a whisker ahead (#39 vs #49 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Mason is stepping back from its peak, Maverick is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Maverick has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Mason leads 5 measures of 6; Maverick leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Mason #472, Maverick — — Mason higher
- 1890s: Mason #478, Maverick — — Mason higher
- 1900s: Mason #488, Maverick — — Mason higher
- 1910s: Mason #529, Maverick — — Mason higher
- 1920s: Mason #565, Maverick — — Mason higher
- 1930s: Mason #654, Maverick — — Mason higher
- 1940s: Mason #690, Maverick — — Mason higher
- 1950s: Mason #792, Maverick #1049 — Mason higher
- 1960s: Mason #778, Maverick #2443 — Mason higher
- 1970s: Mason #550, Maverick #3861 — Mason higher
- 1980s: Mason #390, Maverick #2885 — Mason higher
- 1990s: Mason #123, Maverick #999 — Mason higher
- 2000s: Mason #46, Maverick #679 — Mason higher
- 2010s: Mason #6, Maverick #230 — Mason higher
- 2020s: Mason #27, Maverick #43 — Mason higher
Mason stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Mason | Maverick |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #472 | — |
| 1890s | #478 | — |
| 1900s | #488 | — |
| 1910s | #529 | — |
| 1920s | #565 | — |
| 1930s | #654 | — |
| 1940s | #690 | — |
| 1950s | #792 | #1049 |
| 1960s | #778 | #2443 |
| 1970s | #550 | #3861 |
| 1980s | #390 | #2885 |
| 1990s | #123 | #999 |
| 2000s | #46 | #679 |
| 2010s | #6 | #230 |
| 2020s | #27 | #43 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Mason
- Scotland#41
- Canada#44
- England & Wales#63
Maverick
- Canada#32
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Mason
stoneworker, stonemason
The surname comes straight from the medieval occupation, and the trade word itself traces back through Old French to a Germanic root tied to making or building.
maçon (Old French) → Mason (English surname) → Mason (given name)
How it traveled
Mason is an English occupational surname, from Old French maçon, a worker in stone — a word that reached the language after 1066 and stuck fast, because cathedrals, castles and city walls kept masons in steady work. As a hereditary surname it was carried by families all over medieval and early modern England.
Maverick
an unbranded calf; by extension, an independent-minded person
The word is traced to Samuel A. Maverick, a nineteenth-century Texas rancher whose cattle went unbranded; unclaimed strays came to be called mavericks, and the sense of a person who refuses to run with the herd followed. What is less settled is the older history of the surname itself before it reached Texas.
Maverick (English surname) → maverick (American English word for an unbranded calf) → maverick (an independent-minded person) → Maverick (given name)
How it traveled
The path runs from surname to common noun and back to given name, which is unusual and well documented. Maverick was an English surname carried to America in the colonial period; in nineteenth-century Texas it attached to unbranded cattle, and from there to people who went their own way, a sense American political writing still uses.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Mason
MAY-suhn
Stress on the first syllable. Because the word is ordinary English, almost no one hesitates over it, and it survives phone calls and roll-call intact.
- Mase — The standard informal short form in English; used by family and friends rather than on paperwork.
- Mace — A less common spelling of the same short form; occasionally seen as a standalone name.
Maverick
MAV-uh-rik
Stress on the first syllable. Many speakers compress the middle vowel to two beats, MAV-rik, exactly as they do with the ordinary word.
- Mav — The standard short form, informal, used by family and teammates; rarely seen on paperwork.
- Rick — Taken from the second half; a long-established given name in its own right, so it reads older and more formal than Mav.
- Ricky — Informal, also a stand-alone name; more often chosen by relatives than by the child himself.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Mason if you want…
- a name most people already know#39 in 2025, 6,291 babies that year
- a name past its most crowded yearsMason is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesMason is 2 syllables to Maverick's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooMason is on the national lists of Scotland, Canada and England & Wales
Choose Maverick if you want…
- a name fewer children share#49 in 2025 — maverick will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 1 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMaverick runs 3 syllables, Mason 2
- a newer arrivalMaverick entered the US charts in 1957
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Mason
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on sight — the trade word is already in every English speaker's vocabulary.
- One settled pronunciation, with no regional split to explain.
- Charts in Scotland, Canada and England & Wales as well as the US, so it travels across the English-speaking world.
To consider
- The word also names the Freemasons, and adults sometimes make that connection first. It is a mild association, not a heavy one.
- This name's wave is very recent, so nearly everyone who has it is a child or young teenager; there are few grown Masons to grow into.
- Surname-first names of this type arrive in clusters, and Mason shares its sound world with a whole cohort of similar choices.
Maverick
Strengths
- Spelled the way the English word is spelled, so most people get it right on first hearing without being told.
- One pronunciation, first-syllable stress, and no silent letters to explain.
- A ready-made short form in Mav, plus Rick and Ricky from the second half.
To consider
- The word meaning is loud and instantly understood in English. People will hear "nonconformist" before they hear a name, and some will make a Top Gun remark.
- Its use as a given name is recent, so there are few adult Mavericks; the name will read as young for another few decades yet.
- There is no traditional formal variant to fall back on if the bearer ever wants something quieter on a résumé — the options are Maverick or a nickname.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Mason
85%chance Mason feels dated by 2040
Mason is coming down from a big peak (#2 in 2011). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Maverick
40%chance Maverick feels dated by 2040
Maverick sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Mason and Maverick in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Mason and Maverick?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Mason and Maverick — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Mason or Maverick — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Mason or Maverick?
- Mason, in 2025: Mason ranked #39 with 6,291 babies; Maverick ranked #49 with 5,894 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Mason or Maverick?
- Maverick. Over the last five years Mason moved down 28 places; Maverick moved up 1 place.
- Which is the older name, Mason or Maverick?
- Mason was already in use when US records began in 1880; Maverick entered the US charts in 1957. On the American record, Mason is the older name.
- How many people are named Mason and Maverick?
- About 334,000 people named Mason are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 70,000 people named Maverick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Masons or Mavericks in the classroom?
- Mason will almost certainly be the only one in school. Maverick will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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