Maeva
Feminine · “welcome (Tahitian)”
Maeva is a word before it is a name: in Tahitian, it is what you say to someone arriving — welcome. It traveled from French Polynesia into mainland French naming, where it became a familiar choice through the late twentieth century, and from there into English-speaking records. Three vowels in four syllables' worth of space give it a soft, open sound in any accent that tries it.
How old is the name Maeva?
Maeva first appears in US birth records in 1940 — 85 years ago. The typical Maeva is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,400 people named Maeva are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maeva most popular?
Maeva peaked in 2023, reaching #1287 nationally. Today it ranks #1396, 109 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Maeva appears on this list:
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From maeva (Tahitian greeting) to Maeva
The story of Maeva
Maeva is the Tahitian word of welcome, the greeting still painted on arrival halls and spoken at the start of ceremonies in French Polynesia. Through the long French administrative and cultural connection with Tahiti, the word crossed into mainland France as a girl's given name and became well established there, usually written Maëva with a diaeresis to keep the vowels apart. From French records it spread into other European naming and, more recently, into the United States, where it appears in the states with the largest French- and Spanish-speaking populations. Its American story is short and still being written; its Pacific one is much older than the paperwork.
Meaning
welcome (Tahitian)
The Tahitian greeting maeva is the documented source. Separately, in English-speaking countries the spelling sits close to Irish Maeve (from Medb), and some families use it that way — that is a matter of usage and resemblance, not shared etymology.
How the name formed
- maevaTahitian greeting
- MaëvaFrench given name
- Maeva
Related forms: Maeva · Maëva · Maeva · Maeva
Pronouncing Maeva
mah-AY-vah
That is the French and Tahitian way, with all three vowels sounded. Many American speakers say MAY-vuh instead, treating it as Maeve with an extra syllable. Both are in real use, so it is worth deciding which one you will correct people toward.
Nicknames for Maeva
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1940
- Most girls named
- 2023178 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1287reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −10.3%156 in 2025, from 174
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Maeva in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maeva in Tahitian — same name
- Maëva in French — spelling variant
- Maeva in Spanish — same name
- Maeva in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas. International figures from National Records of Scotland. Sources
Maevas among us
people named Maeva are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,303 born in 2025 was named Maeva
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Donetta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maeva's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Donetta climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Donetta's path sketches the road Maeva is walking now.
Maeva is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Maeva is headed
Maeva looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 45% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Maeva beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maeva in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a living word, not a coinage — Tahitian speakers use maeva as a greeting every day.
- Well established in French records, so it is already recognizable across a good part of Europe.
- Its short forms, Mae and Eva, are complete given names elsewhere, which gives a child room to choose.
- Spelled the way it sounds once the pronunciation is settled: no silent letters, no doubled consonants.
- Two pronunciations compete in the United States — mah-AY-vah and MAY-vuh — and neither is wrong. Expect to say which one you mean, more than once.
- The French spelling Maëva carries a diaeresis that American forms and databases often drop or mangle. Choosing the plain Maeva sidesteps that, at the cost of losing the visual cue to sound both vowels.
- It sits one letter away from Maeve, which is far more familiar in English. Some people will hear Maeve and write it that way.
- Very few American children carry it, so the name will usually need introducing rather than recognizing — easy enough, but it is a small lifelong task.
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What they receive
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Maeva
Feminine · #1396 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Maevas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Maeva are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maeva in 2025?
- Maeva ranks #1396 among US girl names in 2025, with 156 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maeva?
- About 1 in every 10,303 US girls born in 2025 was named Maeva — 156 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maeva with classmates?
- Maeva will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maeva
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Inez#1396 · Ayesha#1396 · Erica#1396 · Eleanore#1396 · Layne#1396 · Noelia#1396 · Calla#1396 · Kynlee#1396
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maeva? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maeva and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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