What King and Mav each name the baby they think is theirs (he turns out to be Mav's) says a lot about their characters. King never actually names him, but gives him the street name "Lil' Man", meaning a smaller version of himself. Mav, however, names him "Seven Maverick Carter", because, in his own words, seven is the number of perfection, and he wanted his son to be his perfect version. When King didn't name the baby, but instead called him the street name that would be the most expected, he didn't think that his son might have a life beyond being a gangbanger, and beyond being the shadow of his father. When Mav named Seven, however, he wasn't thinking about the streets; he was thinking about how much he wanted his son to have a better life than he did.
On Maverick’s first day of work, Mr. Wyatt explains to him that while roses can survive under harsh conditions, he wants them to thrive. On a second read, you realize it’s a parallel to Maverick and Seven: The former was able to survive poverty and threats of violence by joining a gang, but he wants his son to be able to thrive the way he couldn’t, and how “unlike him, Seven deserves another chance.”
