Variant of Maeve, from Old Irish 'meadhbh' meaning 'she who intoxicates' or 'intoxicating one.'
Maive is an anglicized variant of Maeve, one of the most storied names in the entire Irish tradition. The original Irish form is *Medb* (or *Meadhbh*), a name whose etymology connects to the ancient Proto-Celtic *medwa*, related to the word for mead — the honey-wine that was central to Celtic ritual, sovereignty, and celebration. Some scholars interpret the name as 'she who intoxicates' or 'the intoxicating one,' suggesting a figure whose power is almost supernatural in its pull on those around her.
The most famous bearer is Queen Medb of Connacht, the warrior-queen at the center of the *Táin Bó Cúailnge* (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), Ireland's great epic narrative dating to at least the 8th century CE in written form but likely far older in oral tradition. Medb is no passive figure: she commands armies, takes and dismisses lovers on her own terms, and drives the entire conflict of the epic through her ambition and will. She stands as one of the most powerful female characters in all of early medieval European literature.
Shakespeare borrowed the name — in the diminutive form Queen Mab — for the fairy queen who rules the dreams of men in *Romeo and Juliet*. Maive, as a spelling, softens the visual strangeness of the Irish *Meadhbh* while preserving the authentic sound (both are pronounced roughly *MAYV*). It occupies a warm middle ground between the fully anglicized Maeve, which has surged dramatically in English-speaking countries since the 2010s, and the more traditionally Irish spelling. The name has never felt more current — carrying warrior-queen authority in a single elegant syllable.