 The vessel was named after Maidstone, a county town in Kent, England, south-east of London.In selecting her name the Board of Admiralty continued a tradition dating to 1644 of using geographic features for ship names; overall, ten of the nineteen "Coventry"-class vessels were named after well-known regions, rivers or towns.With few exceptions the remainder of the class were named after figures from classical antiquity, following a more modern trend initiated in 1748 by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty.