Top Gun: Maverick is one of the most popular movies of the 2020s, and while the film is fictional, it has had one unexpected real-world impact on the United States. Top Gun: Maverick was incredibly influential upon its release, with it being credited as one of the movies that saved theaters after the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, it also influenced culture in another major way.
Videos by ComicBook.com
After the release of Top Gun in 1986, fans clamored for a sequel for decades. Years of waiting went by without much progress on a sequel being made. However, when Top Gun: Maverick was finally released in 2022, it was massive. The film made $1.496 billion on a budget of $177 million, and it has since gone down as one of the best movies of the 2020s. Its influence is still being felt today, as this surprising statistic points out.
The Name “Maverick” Has Boomed Since Top Gun’s Release
BabyCenter and Namerology are two resources that track the popularity of baby names over time, and they both point out a surprising fact. Since the release of Top Gun, the popularity of the name “Maverick” has boomed. Top Gun: Maverick even further increased the popularity of the name, with its popularity growing even more rapidly in the past few years. This means that tons of parents may have named their children after Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, further cementing Tom Cruise’s cultural domination.
At the turn of the century, Babycenter tracked the name “Maverick” as only occurring in 93 babies per million. This was already an increase when compared to previous decades, but it was still low. In 2010, 266 babies per million had that name. A massive spike then started, with the name occurring in 453 babies per million in 2012, 688 babies per million in 2013, 981 babies per million in 2014, and 1185 babies per million in 2015.
This initial spike could be caused by kids who grew up with the original Top Gun having kids, as they would be in their late 20s or early 30s at this time. The popularity of the name steadily increased, with 3558 babies per million being named “Maverick” in 2020.
However, Top Gun: Maverick increased the name’s popularity even more. In 2022, the film’s release year, the name appeared in 4034 babies per million. The name’s popularity peaked in 2023 with 4085 babies per million, before declining in 2024 to 3857.
Since the peak of the “Maverick” name was centered around Top Gun: Maverick‘s release, it isn’t a stretch to say that the film caused the name’s popularity. After all, it was one of the highest-grossing movies of 2022, so a cultural impact would be expected. This just goes to show how influential the Tom Cruise movie was, as it made an impact on tens of thousands of babies’ lives.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Netflix -
Image Courtesy of Prime Video
