Maeve

MAYV. One syllable, rhyming with wave.

One English form

Phonetic notation

/ˈmeɪv/

Maeve has a queen in its stories. Maeve is connected with Medb, the warrior queen of Connacht in The Cattle Raid of Cooley.¹²

Medb is a figure of Irish legend; this is a literary connection, not a verified historical biography.

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From Medb to Maeve

Maeve is an anglicized form of Irish Medb. Its familiar meaning is “intoxicating”, though scholarly work also proposes a sense resembling “mead-woman”.¹²

Saying Maeve in English

MAYV, one syllable, rhyming with “wave”.

The Irish spelling Méabh

Méabh is a modern Irish form of Medb, corresponding to the English Maeve. Its accent is part of the spelling.

Sources

Patrick Woulfe, Meadhbh — Irish Names and Surnames (1923), libraryireland.com (opens in a new tab)
Matthias Egeler, Some thoughts on ‘Goddess Medb’ and her typological context, publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de (opens in a new tab)

Researched from sources and checked in a separate review. We list reference works, not other baby-name websites. Last revised 4 October 2026.

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