Head to head · Girls' names
Ayla vs Maeve
#77 vs #76 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Maeve is a whisker ahead (#76 vs #77 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Maeve leads 4 measures of 6; Ayla leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1940s: Ayla —, Maeve #3869 — Maeve higher
- 1950s: Ayla —, Maeve #4478 — Maeve higher
- 1960s: Ayla #5891, Maeve #4635 — Maeve higher
- 1970s: Ayla #9871, Maeve #5712 — Maeve higher
- 1980s: Ayla #2759, Maeve #3129 — Ayla higher
- 1990s: Ayla #839, Maeve #1453 — Ayla higher
- 2000s: Ayla #607, Maeve #678 — Ayla higher
- 2010s: Ayla #262, Maeve #442 — Ayla higher
- 2020s: Ayla #98, Maeve #104 — Ayla higher
Ayla stood higher in 5 of 9 decades; Ayla has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Ayla | Maeve |
|---|---|---|
| 1940s | — | #3869 |
| 1950s | — | #4478 |
| 1960s | #5891 | #4635 |
| 1970s | #9871 | #5712 |
| 1980s | #2759 | #3129 |
| 1990s | #839 | #1453 |
| 2000s | #607 | #678 |
| 2010s | #262 | #442 |
| 2020s | #98 | #104 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Ayla
- Scotland#41
- Canada#44
- England & Wales#47
- France#71
Maeve
- Scotland#23
- England & Wales#26
- Canada#46
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Ayla
Turkish: 'moonlight' or 'halo around the moon'. Hebrew: 'doe' or 'oak', through Ayala.
The Turkish reading is straightforward: *ay* means moon, and Ayla is glossed as moonlight or the ring of light around the moon. Independently, Ayla is used in Hebrew as a variant of Ayala, tied to words for a female deer and for the oak or terebinth tree. Neither reading borrowed from the other; the same spelling simply arrived twice.
ay (Turkish: moon) → Ayla
How it traveled
The Turkish Ayla is the older documented thread — a name formed from *ay*, moon, and in ordinary use in Turkey and Azerbaijani-speaking areas well before it appeared in American records. The Hebrew line runs separately, where Ayla stands as a shorter form of Ayala.
Maeve
intoxicating, she who intoxicates
The Old Irish medb comes from the same root as the word for mead, the honey wine; the name is usually rendered "she who intoxicates" or "the intoxicating one."
Medb → Meadhbh → Méabh → Maeve
How it traveled
The name begins in Ireland as Medb, spelled Meadhbh in later Irish and Méabh in the modern simplified orthography. Its most famous bearer is the Medb of the Ulster Cycle, the Connacht queen whose demand for a prize bull sets the Táin Bó Cúailnge in motion — a story preserved in Irish manuscripts from the twelfth century onward.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Ayla
AY-lah
The usual American pronunciation is AY-lah, with the first syllable like the letter A. In Turkish, *ay* sounds like the English word 'eye', so a Turkish speaker will say something closer to eye-LAH. Both are correct in their own setting, and families who use the name across languages often live with both.
Maeve
MAYV
One syllable, rhyming with cave and wave. The Irish spellings Méabh and Meadhbh are said the same way, which is why the anglicized form works so smoothly for English speakers.
- Mae — The most common short form, and a long-established given name in its own right.
- Maevie — Affectionate and家 family-level; used with young children rather than in writing.
- Mave — Informal, sometimes just the way the full name gets clipped in speech.
Who has carried each name
Ayla
No documented entry for Ayla yet.
Maeve
Maeve Binchy (b. 1939) — Beloved Irish storyteller (Circle of Friends)
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Ayla if you want…
- a name that stays wholeno recorded short form for Ayla
- a name that charts abroad tooAyla is on the national lists of Scotland, Canada, England & Wales and France
Choose Maeve if you want…
- a name on the way upup 98 places on the charts in five years
- plenty of nickname options3 recorded short forms — Mae, Maevie and Mave
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Ayla
Strengths
- Short, phonetic and easy to spell from hearing it once — four letters, no silent letters, no doubled consonants.
- Works in Turkish, Hebrew and English without translation or adjustment, which matters in families that span more than one of them.
- Already recognized in several other countries, including Scotland, Canada, England and Wales, and France.
To consider
- It sits in a crowded sound-neighborhood with Isla, Layla, Lyla and Ayda. Expect a certain amount of gentle correcting, spoken and written.
- The AY-lah and eye-LAH pronunciations both have real claim to the name, so she may hear it two ways depending on who is speaking.
- The name is climbing rather than settling, so it will likely be better known by the time she starts school than it is now — familiar, though still not one of the names in every classroom.
Maeve
Strengths
- Short and phonetic: an English reader gets it right on sight, without needing the Irish spelling explained.
- One syllable, so it needs no nickname to be usable — though Mae is there if a family wants one.
- A documented record stretching back to medieval Irish manuscripts, which is a longer paper trail than most names on the charts.
To consider
- It is climbing quickly. A child born now is unlikely to share a classroom with another Maeve, but the name will be more familiar by the time she is grown.
- Expect occasional misspellings — Mave, Maive, Meave — and the Irish forms Méabh and Meadhbh may come up if your family has ties to Ireland.
- The queen Medb of the Táin is a fierce, war-starting figure. Some parents love that; it is worth knowing the story before someone else tells you about it.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Ayla and Maeve in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Ayla and Maeve?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- all guides
Every list here names both Ayla and Maeve — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Ayla or Maeve — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Ayla or Maeve?
- Maeve, in 2025: Maeve ranked #76 with 3,153 babies; Ayla ranked #77 with 3,149 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Ayla or Maeve?
- Maeve. Over the last five years Ayla moved up 54 places; Maeve moved up 98 places.
- Which is the older name, Ayla or Maeve?
- Ayla entered the US charts in 1963; Maeve entered the US charts in 1940. On the American record, Maeve is the older name.
- How many people are named Ayla and Maeve?
- About 38,000 people named Ayla are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 29,500 people named Maeve are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Aylas or Maeves in the classroom?
- Ayla will almost certainly be the only one in school. Maeve will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Ayla, Maeve and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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