Name of the Week: Maeve

 

 

Origin:

Maeve is the anglicised form of the Old Irish name Medb. which later became Medbh/Meadhbh and Meabh in modern Irish. Queen Medb Famously, Medb was the warrior queen of Connacht who is the central character in the Old Irish prose epic Táin Bó Cúailnge ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley"). She was beautiful, independent, strong-willed and with a reputation as a great warrior.  According to legend, Medb was an Irish princess, the daughter of Eochaid Feidlech, High King of Ireland, who lived around the 1st century. She was married to Conchobar Mac Nessa, King of Ulster, first but the marriage went sour and Medb left him. Her father then deposed the King of Connaught and made Medb its queen (in some versions she married the deposed king, Tinni). When Tinni lost in single combat, she next married the warrior Eochaid Dála and, when his kingship was challenged, she married the victor Ailill. Throughout her many marriages one thing is consistent – the men only gain power because they marry her, and not the other way round as is usual in a patriarchal society. In the most famous account of Medb, she went to war to possess the magnificent Brown Bull of Cooley. Medb and Ailill got into an argument about who held the higher status. To settle it, they counted out all their belongings. The only difference between them was that Ailill had a magnificent white-horned bull, while Medb had nothing that could compare to it. Medb was not about to stand back and let her husband have superiority so she sent her scouts to find a bull just as magnificent: the Brown Bull of Cooley.  To cut the rest of the saga short, Medb went to war against Ireland's most mighty warrior, Cúchulainn. After much fighting, some tactful negotiation, and great cunning on Medb's part, she eventually got the bull.    There is also another Medb – Medb Lehderg who was the goddess of the sovereignty of Tara. She, too, had many successive husbands of different generations who all obtained kingship of Tara through her. It is widely thought that both Medbs are one and the same, and that, in fact, Queen Medb is a later euhemerised form of an Irish sovereignty goddess whose function was to confer kingship either through union with the king or the presentation of a drink.* This explains the many successive husbands attributed to Medb as this is symbolic of the transfer of sovereignty from one king to another.  Etymology It is widely thought that Medb derives from the Proto-Celtic feminine adjective *medua which became medb "strong, intoxicating" in Old Irish and meddw and mezv "intoxicated, drunk" in Welsh and Breton respectively. This adjective derives from the Proto-Celtic noun *medu- "mead" which led to the Old Irish mid, Welsh medd and Breton mez "mead." Most scholars have argued that Medb is the feminine form of the adjective, or a feminine derivative of the noun (meaning "mead-woman").* For many, this etymology directly connects Medb to her role as a sovereignty goddess in which kings are selected by the presentation of a drink. In recent years, the traditional etymology of Medb has come under debate. Georges-Jean Pinault in 2007* argued that Medb actually derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *med- "to take appropriate measures when facing a problem." This root has disseminated into many languages and undergone many semantic developments such as "to judge, to rule, to heal, to measure." This includes the Welsh meddu "to own" and the Old Irish midiur "to judge." Pinault points to the Gaulish given name Epomeduos as meaning "the one who masters/rules horses". This element is also found in the Gaulish goddess Meduna* and the theonym Comedovis.* There are also some examples from Roman Britain of "Med" inscribed in pottery as well as the name Docimedis inscribed in Roman Bath. Some scholars now look to the Proto-Celtic word *medwa "the ruler" as the root for Medb. This would make it equivalent to the names of many other Celtic goddesses which contain the element rígan "queen" such as Morrigan and Rhiannon.  For more in-depth information on the scholarly debate about Medb and the etymology of the name, I recommend Britta Irslinger's fantastic paper Medb 'the intoxicating one'? (Re-)constructing the past through etymology. In conclusion, she sums up: "While a goddess called Medb "the intoxicating one" is not unequivocally attested anywhere, the figure of Medb "the queen'" finds numerous parallels in Celtic and non-Celtic mythologies. Despite the association between sovereignty and alcohol in medieval Irish literature [...] Medb is not involved in the offering of drinks or with intoxication any more than other alleged sovereignty goddesses. This is consistent with the fact that the adjective medb "intoxicating" was on the whole already opaque during the Old Irish period. This suggests that later medieval audience probably did not conceive Medb as 'the intoxicating one', in contrast with what is commonly claimed by modern scholars."*

Usage:

Usage in Ireland Medb was used as a genuine given name in medieval Ireland. One Medb ingen Indrechtach was Queen of Ailech in the 8th century which shows its early usage. It appears in the Irish Annals five times in the years 1444, 1502, 1555, 1577, 1582 in the Early Modern Irish forms of Medbh and Meadhbh. According to O'Corrain and Maguire in Irish Names (1990), Medb was "one of the twenty most popular names in later medieval Ireland, but it occurs as a male name in the very early period" and "it was in use [as a female name] especially in the north of Ireland until the late nineteenth century where it [... was] replaced by the English 'translations'." As with most Gaelic names, Medb was 'translated' into English as Madge, Marjory, Mabel and Maud. It also gained a diminutive form of Meidhbhín which was anglicised as Meaveen and Mabbina.* From 1964 to 2009, Maeve ranked in the top 100 of Ireland in every year bar twelve over forty-six years. It has only recently show signs of starting to decline.  Conversely, the modern Irish spelling – Meabh – has been steadily rising. It properly gained use in small numbers in the 1980s, and first reached the top 100 in 2008.  In 2017, Meabh ranked #76 (81 births) and Maeve ranked #133 (43 births) Usage in Britain  Despite it's common use in Ireland, it was little used beyond its shores until the 19th century – even in fellow Gaelic Scotland.  Maeve is first recorded as a first name in both Scotland and England and Wales in 1898, while Meave was recorded as a middle name in Scotland in 1859. The modern Gaelic spelling Meabh wasn't recorded in either Scotland or England and Wales and Wales until the 1990s.  England and Wales The following table shows the registrations for Maeve and Meave in England and Wales. In many cases, at least one parent had an Irish surname.    Maeve Meave 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s: 1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 1970s: 2 births 8 births 6 births 13 births 18 births 50 births 63 births 64 births 71 births 0 births 0 births 1 birth 10 births 4 births 6 births 2 births 4 births 7 births click to enlarge Maeve has continued its steady but under-the-radar usage right up to today in England and Wales.  Since 1996, Maeve has been on a very gentle rise. From 1996-2006 it average 24-39 births each year and since 2009 has averaged between 51-67 births.  In 2016, Maeve ranked #638 with 66 births.  Regionally, it was most common in the South of England where it ranked #395 in the South West and #462 in the South East.  Northern Ireland Maeve ranked in Northern Ireland's top 100 from 1997 to 2004 after which it fell below. Similar to Ireland, this also coincided with the rise of the spelling Meabh which has been steadily gaining in use since 2012.  In 2017, Meabh ranked #44 (47 births) and Maeve ranked #159 (14 births). Scotland Maeve increased in use in Scotland in the 1970s but it remained fairly uncommon. From 1974 to 2001, it ranked in every year except 1977, 1983, 1988 and 1996 but had no more than 4 births in any given year.  Since 2004, however, Maeve has seen an increase in usage, reaching a peak of #275 (14 births) in 2017.  The spelling Meabh was only registered for one child in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2014 and 2015, and for two girls in 2013. 2017, however, saw it rise to #570 with 5 births.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Medb ingen Indrechtach (fl. 800), Queen of Ailech. * Maeve Brennan (1917–1993), Irish short story writer and journalist. Contemporary: * Maeve Kelly (born 1930), Irish writer. * Maeve Binchy (1940–2012), Irish writer. * Maeve Kinkead (born 1946), American actress. * Maeve Ingoldsby (born 1947), Irish writer. * Maeve Higgins (born 1981), Irish comedian. * Maeve Dermody (born 1985), Australian actress. * Maeve O'Boyle (born 1987), Scottish singer-songwriter. * Méabh De Búrca (born 1988), Irish footballer.  * Maeve O'Donovan (born 1990), Irish singer. Literature and Other Media: * Maeve Millay, a main character in the TV series Westworld. * Maeve Donavan, character in the American police drama Criminal Minds. * Maeve Benson, character in the ABC Family drama Make It Or Break It. * Maeve Stoddard, character in the American soap opera Guiding Light.

Variants:

Medb, Meadhbh, Méabh, Meave

Pronunciation:

MAYV  [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Maevy

Sibling Names:

Cora     Hazel     Orla     Carys     Lena     Pippa  Rory     Lorcan     Ronan     Cormac     Maxwell     Rhys

Name Lists:

Cosy Celtic   Ripe Renovations   No Frills Feminine: Flawless -'f/v' Endings      Demi-gods and Mortals of Mythology

 

If you like Maeve you may also like:   Iona, Bonnie, Rhiannon, Niamh, Lilias, Celyn, Merryn, Flora, Reeva, Cliona

Thanks to Helen for requesting this name.

Header model via Elandria / landscape via Pixabay