girls' name ★ peaked 2025

Maeve

Meaning intoxicating Gender Girl Rank 2025 #76 Trend ↑ Rising 145%

Anglicized from Irish Méabh, from Middle Irish Medb (literally “intoxicating”), name of a legendary queen of Connacht.

Rank 2025
#76
among girls · ↓1 vs 2024
Babies in 2025
3,153
named Maeve · +2% vs 2024
How common
1 in 510
girls born in 2025
Peak year
2025
3,153 babies
All-time total
29,608
#845 all-time among girls
First recorded
1940
in Social Security records

Maeve popularity over time

29,608 babies have been named Maeve since 1940, according to official Social Security records. Switch measure to see births per year or the yearly rank.

Measure
Births per 1,000 babies of that sex, comparable across eras
0.631.251.882.518801900192019401960198020002020Peak 2025Girls

By decade. Change compares yearly averages, so the current partial decade is on equal footing. Best rank is the name's best yearly rank within the decade.

Decade Girls Per year Change Best rank
1880s – – – –
1890s – – – –
1900s – – – –
1910s – – – –
1920s – – – –
1930s – – – –
1940s 50 5 – #2,967
1950s 74 7 +48% #3,614
1960s 102 10 +38% #3,273
1970s 89 9 -13% #5,084
1980s 333 33 +274% #2,083
1990s 1,450 145 +335% #669
2000s 4,072 407 +181% #594
2010s 7,545 755 +85% #244
2020s (to 2025) 15,893 2,649 +251% #73

Where Maeve is heading

A five-year projection from the recent trend in births per 1,000 girls (damped so it flattens over time), converted to babies at today's birth totals. The implied rank places that projection in the 2025 field. A projection, not a promise: real trends bend.

Year Projected babies Per 1,000 girls Implied rank
2026 3,677 2.29 #63
2027 4,191 2.61 #50
2028 4,684 2.91 #45
2029 5,148 3.20 #38
2030 5,579 3.47 #34

Where Maeve is most popular

Girls named Maeve per 1,000 girls born in each state, 2021–2025. National average: 1.76 per 1,000. Strongest in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

Vs national average
well below below near national above well above no data

All 50 states and DC, sorted by rate. Counts are girls named Maeve born 2021–2025; the per-1,000 rate makes states of different sizes comparable, and the last column shows each state against the national average.

State Girls 2021–2025 Per 1,000 vs national
Vermont 75 15.5 +781%
New Hampshire 198 10.7 +511%
Rhode Island 112 8.94 +409%
Maine 131 8.47 +382%
Massachusetts 816 6.75 +284%
District of Columbia 73 6.16 +251%
Montana 72 5.32 +203%
Connecticut 282 4.85 +176%
Alaska 40 4.65 +165%
Delaware 50 4.41 +151%
Nebraska 135 3.76 +114%
Pennsylvania 882 3.73 +112%
South Dakota 53 3.71 +111%
Hawaii 42 3.66 +109%
Illinois 826 3.61 +105%
Colorado 397 3.56 +102%
Wyoming 15 3.52 +100%
North Dakota 46 3.50 +99%
Minnesota 374 3.47 +97%
Wisconsin 351 3.41 +94%
Iowa 198 3.39 +93%
Idaho 107 3.20 +82%
Oregon 207 3.18 +81%
Washington 431 2.98 +70%
Kansas 170 2.95 +68%
Ohio 692 2.92 +66%
Michigan 514 2.82 +61%
Utah 234 2.81 +60%
New Jersey 448 2.48 +41%
New York 972 2.45 +40%
Maryland 255 2.41 +37%
Indiana 314 2.24 +27%
Virginia 369 2.16 +23%
Missouri 253 2.10 +20%
West Virginia 49 1.87 +6%
New Mexico 45 1.85 +5%
North Carolina 388 1.70 ≈ national
Arkansas 87 1.65 -6%
Arizona 230 1.64 -7%
Nevada 71 1.53 -13%
South Carolina 125 1.39 -21%
Oklahoma 96 1.30 -26%
Tennessee 200 1.26 -28%
Kentucky 105 1.23 -30%
California 1,024 1.22 -31%
Louisiana 98 1.12 -36%
Georgia 247 1.09 -38%
Florida 451 1.05 -40%
Mississippi 45 0.962 -45%
Texas 749 0.931 -47%
Alabama 81 0.863 -51%

State counts come from the Social Security Administration's state files, which omit any state-year with fewer than five babies of a name, so small states can undercount slightly.

The story of Maeve

Maeve is a top-100 name for girls in the United States, ranked #76 in 2025 with 3,153 babies given the name. It is currently rising compared with a decade ago.

Since 1940, 29,608 American babies have been named Maeve. Its peak came in 2025, when 3,153 newborns received the name, the signature sound of the 2020s.

The chart above shows the full history: the popularity view (births per 1,000 babies) is the honest comparison across generations, since total US births have changed enormously since 1880. Switch to the rank view to see where Maeve stood among all girls' names in any year, or use the compare tool to plot it against other names.

How old are people named Maeve?

The median living Maeve is about 5 years old; half are between 2 and 13. An estimated 29 thousand people named Maeve are alive in the United States today.

median 5 020406080100

Estimated from births per year and Social Security period life tables; an approximation of the living age distribution, by age in years.

Maeve year by year

Every year since 2001, and five-year steps back to 1880. Rank is within each sex.

Year Girls Girls rank
2025 3,153 #76
2024 3,105 #75
2023 3,062 #73
2022 2,676 #103
2021 2,253 #124
2020 1,644 #174
2019 1,303 #244
2018 973 #334
2017 867 #360
2016 820 #406
2015 703 #452
2014 648 #487
2013 625 #485
2012 571 #532
2011 489 #591
2010 546 #536
2009 508 #594
2008 486 #636
2007 480 #622
2006 447 #647
2005 398 #696
2004 378 #710
2003 413 #644
2002 350 #710
2001 317 #757
2000 295 #778
1995 133 #1,270
1990 48 #2,505
1985 32 #2,904
1980 13 #5,422
1975 7 #7,631
1970 – –
1965 11 #4,101
1960 15 #3,295
1955 7 #5,014
1950 – –
1945 6 #4,337
1940 8 #3,399
1935 – –
1930 – –
1925 – –
1920 – –
1915 – –
1910 – –
1905 – –
1900 – –
1895 – –
1890 – –
1885 – –
1880 – –

Famous people named Maeve

The most globally famous bearers of the name, ranked by fame across Wikipedia editions (Pantheon project, MIT).

  1. 1 Maeve Binchy Maeve Binchy Irish novelist (1939–2012) Contemporary

Portraits from Wikipedia (Wikimedia Commons).

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about Maeve, drawn from the same Social Security data as the charts above.

How old is the average Maeve?

The median living Maeve is about 5 years old. Half of all living Maeves are between 2 and 13 years old.

How many people named Maeve are alive today?

An estimated 29 thousand people named Maeve are alive in the United States, based on 29,608 recorded births and Social Security life tables.

What does the name Maeve mean?

Anglicized from Irish Méabh, from Middle Irish Medb (literally “intoxicating”), name of a legendary queen of Connacht.

How popular is the name Maeve in 2025?

Maeve ranked #76 among girls' names in the United States in 2025, with 3,153 babies given the name, according to Social Security Administration data.

How many people are named Maeve?

29,608 babies have been named Maeve in the United States since 1940, based on Social Security card applications.

When was the name Maeve most popular?

Maeve peaked in 2025, when 3,153 newborns received the name.

Is Maeve a boy or girl name?

Maeve is overwhelmingly a girl's name: 100% of babies with the name.

Is the name Maeve rising or falling?

Maeve is on the rise, noticeably more popular now than a decade ago.

Will Maeve become more popular?

Maeve is trending upward. If the recent trend holds, we project roughly 5,579 girls named Maeve in 2030, which would rank around #34. Forecasts assume the current trend continues and become less certain further out.

Who are famous people named Maeve?

Well-known people named Maeve include Maeve Binchy (writer).

Names like Maeve

Names that sound and feel close to Maeve: shared sounds, similar era, similar popularity. Each links to its full history.

Compare Maeve with similar names → More names starting with M →