As USPS package volume has surged, more babies have been named Maverick, a correlation of 0.989 that connects the e-commerce revolution to aviator baby naming with the logistical precision of a tracking number attached to a birth certificate. The boxes arrive, the Mavericks are born, and the chart maps both with the delivery confidence of a correlation that has never missed a deadline.
USPS packages grew from about 3.1 billion to over 7.3 billion between 2005 and 2022. Maverick grew to over 4,000 babies per year. Both are smooth upward curves across eighteen years, driven by different aspects of American culture: online shopping drives packages, and the cultural embrace of bold names drives Maverick. The shared variable is the internet—same infrastructure delivers both packages and baby name trends.
Eighteen years of packages and Maverick babies is a correlation powered by the same digital infrastructure: the internet that delivers the packages also distributes the cultural content that makes unconventional names popular. The package tracks, the baby is named, and both trajectories are enabled by the same rectangular device in every pocket. Delivered: one correlation. Signed for: by no one.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “USPS package volume” vs “Babies named Maverick (US)” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
