Maeva comes from Tahitian, where it means "welcome". The name was picked up in France in the 1980s and became a hit there, and it has since reached American parents who like the sounds of Maeve and Ava. In the United States Maeva was rare in 2015, at number 3686, and has climbed to a best rank of number 1288 in 2023, standing at number 1403 in 2025.