girl's name
Meabh
MAYV
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Letters 5
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 3,340
Northern Ireland
#17
2024 births
Meabh is a girl's name of Irish origin meaning "she who intoxicates," from a root connected with mead. It belongs to Queen Medb of Connacht, who drives the plot of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, and ranked 38th in Ireland in 2025.
- Meabh is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in Ireland in 2023, when 131 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in Ireland.
- Today about 1 in 4,984 babies in Ireland is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1976.
Meabh over time
Births per decade in Ireland, 1970s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 8 |
| 1980s | 59 |
| 1990s | 192 |
| 2000s | 442 |
| 2010s | 718 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 648 |
What Meabh means
Meabh means she who intoxicates, or the one who makes drunk. The sense is of a woman who overwhelms — the name is connected to the word for mead, and to the ritual drink by which a king was wedded to his sovereignty.
Where Meabh comes from
Méabh descends from the Old Irish Medb, from a root meaning mead or intoxication, the same one behind the English mead. Its bearer is Medb of Connacht, who in the Táin Bó Cúailnge starts a war over a bull to settle an argument with her husband about whose property is greater, and who is generally read as a euhemerised sovereignty goddess: the ritual in which a candidate king drank to be joined to the land makes the intoxication sense literal rather than poetic. The name is anglicized as Maeve and Meave, and it is under Maeve that it has traveled internationally. Shakespeare's Queen Mab is widely thought to descend from her.
Meabh in use
Méabh ranked 38th in Ireland in 2025 with 116 births, while the unaccented Meabh trails at 429 with nine — another decisive preference for the accented spelling. Our Irish records carry the name from 1976 onward. The internationally successful form of this name is the anglicized Maeve, which is why Méabh itself looks rarer than the sound actually is.
How popular is Meabh?
In 2025, Meabh was given to 9 babies in Ireland, ranking #429 that year. It is a rare choice.
Where Meabh is used
Irish figures withhold any name given to fewer than three babies in a year, so a gap means the name fell below that floor rather than went unused. The Central Statistics Office began recording the síneadh fada in 2018, so accented and unaccented spellings are counted separately from that year on. Data & sources.
How Meabh is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Méabh | Méabh is Meabh written with a fada in Ireland, and the spelling parents there overwhelmingly choose: it ranks #38 in Ireland, against #429 for Meabh. | 712 |
Names that peaked alongside Meabh
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Meabh also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Meabh over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Meabh
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Meabh in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Irish
- Maeve
Sibling names for Meabh
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Meabh — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Meabh
What does the name Méabh mean?
Méabh means "she who intoxicates," from a root connected with mead.
Is Méabh the same name as Maeve?
Yes. Maeve is the anglicized spelling, and it is the form that traveled internationally.
Who was Queen Medb?
The queen of Connacht whose cattle raid drives the Táin Bó Cúailnge, generally read as a sovereignty goddess in human form.
How do you pronounce Méabh?
MAYV, one syllable.
How popular is the name Meabh?
In 2025, Meabh was given to 9 babies in Ireland, ranking #429 that year. It is a rare choice.
Is Meabh a girl's or a boy's name?
Meabh is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Meabh most popular?
Meabh peaked in 2023, when 131 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Meabh?
Meabh is usually shortened to May.
Is Meabh a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Meabh currently ranks #17 in Ireland. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.