An Irish name from Niamh meaning 'bright,' also linked in usage to Latin-derived neve meaning 'snow.'
Neve is most immediately recognized as the anglicized spelling of the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name Niamh, pronounced approximately the same way, meaning "bright," "radiant," or "lustrous." In Irish mythology, Niamh Chinn Óir — Niamh of the Golden Hair — is one of the most celebrated figures of the Otherworld. She is a goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann who rides across the sea on a white horse and invites the warrior-poet Oisín to Tír na nÓg, the Land of Eternal Youth.
The myth is one of the great love stories and elegies in Celtic literature, and it gives Neve a mythological depth that few modern-sounding names can claim. The name also intersects with Italian and Portuguese, where "neve" simply means snow — a pure, elemental image that adds a second layer of beauty without conflict. This double identity, Celtic fire and Latinate snow, makes Neve unusually rich for a four-letter name.
The actress Neve Campbell, who rose to global visibility through the "Scream" franchise in the 1990s, introduced the spelling to a generation of English-speaking parents who might not have encountered the Gaelic original. Neve has grown steadily in popularity as Irish heritage names have enjoyed a sustained international revival — alongside Saoirse, Aoife, and Caoimhe — but the anglicized spelling lowers the barrier to entry for non-Irish families. It remains elegant and rare enough to feel distinctive, while its mythological backbone gives it a story worth telling to the child who will bear it.