‘Maeve’ is taking over the US baby name scene, and it’s a gentle thrill

I have a dear friend called Maeve. In the early 2000s when we chose New York as our JI visa destination we didn’t have trailblazers like Saoirse Ronan and the viral videos of Buzzfeed to prepare the world for the seemingly anti-phonetic stance of Irish names.

Maeve’s nametag at the country club where we waited tables was frequently misread as “Mauve”. We shared a house with eight other girls, one of whom was named “Mairead”. Obviously, the golfers read it as “Mermaid” and guffawed about those crazy Irish women and their berserk names over their cobb salads served exclusively by women staff in a section of the clubhouse jauntily called the “Men’s Grill”. I got off relatively lightly and suffered a summer of being called either Emma or “Emmur”, with just a smattering of sexual harassment.

While Binchy’s Circle of Friends might have been given the Hollywood treatment, it’s unlikely that the 1995 film is driving the current surge in the popularity of ‘Maeve’

In the intervening years “Maeve” (the name, not my friend) has taken hold in the States and is now one of the fastest rising baby monikers across the Atlantic.

Earlier this year Nameberry.com – world leader in baby name websites – predicted that Maeve will break the top five by the end of 2023. Appellationmountain.net is also taking a punt on Maeve, claiming it as “this generation’s Erin” and stating in their predictions for 2024 that “it seems crazy to bet against a name that just keeps gaining”.

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The baby name sites see “Maeve” as an unchallenging yet mystical option, which is a fair assessment when compared with the likes of “Caoilfhionn” or “Sadhbh”. However, to compare our beloved Maeve to the pretty yet hugely Americanised “Erin” is akin to putting Paul Mescal on a red carpet and asking him which part of Buckinghamshire he’s from. We simply won’t have it.

Our most famous Maeve spans centuries and mythologies. The original Queen Medb is of course famous for kicking off Táin Bó Cúailnge, traditionally set in the 1st century. Her name has taken on numerous forms from Meadb to Méabh to Meadhbh, none of which would make it far on Nameberry.com.

Our modern famous Maeves are pillars of wit, lyricism, and the diaspora. Maeve Higgins, the comic from Cóbh, now calls New York home and is an important figure in both comedy and immigrant advocacy. She follows in the footsteps of Maeve Brennan, the writer and journalist who wrote brilliantly under the name “Long-Winded Lady” in the New Yorker magazine for almost 30 years after leaving Ireland for the US in 1934.

And of course, there’s Maeve Binchy. Her “popular fiction” novels are increasingly and rightly centred as classic works of Irish literature, and historical texts teeming with social significance. However, while Binchy’s Circle of Friends might have been given the Hollywood treatment, it’s unlikely that the 1995 film is driving the current surge in the popularity of “Maeve”.

We can probably look to popular culture for the influences. From 2016 onwards the “Maeve” character on Westworld – played by Thandie Newton – was credited with inspiring a jump in US babies with the same name.

In 50 years there might be a Lasairíona or a Síle in the White House. Emma, Mauve and Mermaid will be so proud.

According to Social Security records the name rose from 334th most popular in 2018 to 104th in 2022. In 2024 it’s likely to break the top 100. The US site Mom Loves Best points to Netflix show Sex Education – set in the UK but popular everywhere – as a Maeve-fluencer. Baby names had a spike in “Maeves” in the US in January 2019, January 2020 and September 2021 which corresponds to the release dates of the first three seasons of the show, which features a lead character called Maeve Wiley. Interestingly, the other lead is named Otis, which is now one of the fastest rising names in the UK.

The untimely and widely reported death of Maeve Kennedy McKean, a grandniece of JFK, in April 2020 caused a spike in baby girls named Maeve – more than 200 in the weeks following her death. There’s also the superhero Queen Maeve – played by Irish actor Dominique McElligott – in the Amazon series The Boys, Mebh Óg, the main character in the Oscar nominated Wolfwalkers, and numerous Maeves in fantasy TV shows, books and video games.

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It’s a gentle thrill to see Maeve hit the big time outside of Ireland, and it will be interesting to see what other Irish names will follow in her wake. “Liam” is already one of the top names for baby boys in the US. Who knows. In 50 years there might be a Lasairíona or a Síle in the White House. Emma, Mauve and Mermaid will be so proud.