Head to head · Boys' names
Maverick vs Thiago
#49 vs #50 in 2025
Maverick is a whisker ahead (#49 vs #50 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Maverick is holding its place on the charts, Thiago is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Thiago 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, Maverick leads 5 measures of 6; Thiago 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
- 1950s: Maverick #1049, Thiago — — Maverick higher
- 1960s: Maverick #2443, Thiago — — Maverick higher
- 1970s: Maverick #3861, Thiago — — Maverick higher
- 1980s: Maverick #2885, Thiago #4895 — Maverick higher
- 1990s: Maverick #999, Thiago #5415 — Maverick higher
- 2000s: Maverick #679, Thiago #2442 — Maverick higher
- 2010s: Maverick #230, Thiago #502 — Maverick higher
- 2020s: Maverick #43, Thiago #99 — Maverick higher
Maverick stood higher in every recorded decade — 8 of 8.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Maverick | Thiago |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | #1049 | — |
| 1960s | #2443 | — |
| 1970s | #3861 | — |
| 1980s | #2885 | #4895 |
| 1990s | #999 | #5415 |
| 2000s | #679 | #2442 |
| 2010s | #230 | #502 |
| 2020s | #43 | #99 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Maverick
- Canada#32
Thiago
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Thiago
Ultimately from Hebrew Ya'aqov (Jacob), reached by way of "Saint James"
The immediate sense is straightforward: Thiago comes from Santiago, "Saint James." The older layer is where scholars divide. Ya'aqov has long been tied to Hebrew 'aqev, "heel" — the Genesis account has Jacob born gripping his twin's heel, which gives the traditional gloss "supplanter." Others read it as a shortened theophoric name, "may God protect." Both readings are seriously held.
Ya'aqov → Iakobos → Iacobus → Santiago / Tiago → Thiago
How it traveled
The name traveled a long road before it reached this spelling. Hebrew Ya'aqov became Iakobos in the Greek of the New Testament, then Iacobus in Latin, and from there splintered across Europe into James, Jacques, Giacomo and Jacob.
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
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.
Thiago
tee-AH-go
Brazilian Portuguese softens the opening consonant to something closer to chee-AH-go; Spanish and English speakers generally say tee-AH-go. The h is silent in every version. Stress stays on the middle syllable throughout.
- Thi — The everyday clipped form in Brazilian Portuguese; informal, used by family and friends.
- Thiaguinho — The Portuguese diminutive in -inho, affectionate and informal; also carried as a stage name by Brazilian performers.
- Tiago — The standard Portuguese spelling, sometimes used as the casual form of Thiago and also a full given name in its own right.
- T — A single-initial nickname common on sports rosters and in American classrooms.
Who has carried each name
Maverick
No documented entry for Maverick yet.
Thiago
Thiago Silva (b. 1984) — Brazil's longtime captain and defensive great
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Maverick if you want…
- a name holding steadyMaverick is holding its place on the charts
- a name that charts abroad tooMaverick is on the national lists of Canada
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 63% for Thiago
Choose Thiago if you want…
- a name on the way upup 118 places on the charts in five years
- a name that feels very nowThiago is climbing the charts fast
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
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.
Thiago
Strengths
- Recognized across Portuguese, Spanish and English-speaking countries, with close relatives — Santiago, Tiago, James — in nearly every European language.
- A documented line back through Latin and Greek to Hebrew, tied to one of the best-known pilgrim destinations in Europe.
- Three syllables, stress in the middle, ending in an open vowel — it carries well when called across a room or a field.
To consider
- Two spellings are both correct in the Portuguese-speaking world — Thiago in Brazil, Tiago in Portugal. Expect the h to be dropped by people writing it from hearing it.
- The first consonant is said differently depending on who is speaking: chee- in Brazil, tee- in Spanish and English. Families often end up living with both.
- The name is climbing quickly in the US, so it will sound more familiar to a kindergarten teacher a decade from now than it does today.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
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.
Thiago
63%chance Thiago feels dated by 2040
Thiago is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
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 Maverick and Thiago 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
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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
- Distinctly American names
- America's top 100 names right now
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- all guides
Every list here names both Maverick and Thiago — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Maverick or Thiago — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Maverick or Thiago?
- Maverick, in 2025: Maverick ranked #49 with 5,894 babies; Thiago ranked #50 with 5,835 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Maverick or Thiago?
- Thiago. Over the last five years Maverick moved up 1 place; Thiago moved up 118 places.
- Which is the older name, Maverick or Thiago?
- Maverick entered the US charts in 1957; Thiago entered the US charts in 1986. On the American record, Maverick is the older name.
- How many people are named Maverick and Thiago?
- About 70,000 people named Maverick are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 35,000 people named Thiago are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Mavericks or Thiagos in the classroom?
- Maverick will almost certainly be the only one in school. Thiago 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
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