The name Maeve, Meave, Maev, Maiv, Maiev, Mabh, or Maedhbh (pronounced "mayv") is a female name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish name Méabh, which was spelled Meadhbh or Maedhbh in older forms of the Irish language (pronounced "mehv"), Meḋḃ or Meaḋḃ in Middle Irish, and Medb in Old Irish (pronounced "mehdv"). The name may mean "she who intoxicates" or "mead-woman," which refers to someone associated with honey wine, or "she who rules." Medb was a queen in Irish mythology and is believed to have originally been a goddess who represented the power of a land or people.

Usage

The name Maeve (spelled that way) was in the top 100 most popular names for girls in Ireland for all but 12 years between 1964 and 2009. In 2020, the name Meabh was ranked 99th among the most popular Irish girls' names. In Northern Ireland, Maeve was in the top 100 most popular girls' names from 1997 to 2004, and Meabh was ranked 44th in 2017. In England and Wales, Maeve was ranked 218th in 2020 but rose to 94th by that year. In Scotland, Maeve has been among the top 100 most popular names for girls since 2020, and in 2021, it was the 72nd most popular name. In the Netherlands, Maeve was among the top 500 girls' names in 2014 and again from 2017 to 2021. In 2021, it was the 44th most common name for newborn Dutch girls. In the United States, Maeve has been among the 1,000 most popular girls' names since 1997, among the top 500 since 2013, and among the top 150 since 2021.