How popular is the baby name Neve in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Neve.

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Popularity of the baby name Neve


Posts that mention the name Neve

Girl names that end with a V-sound

Girl names that end with a V-sound

In the U.S., most of the names given to baby girls end with a vowel sound. And many of the remaining names end with an N-sound.

So, what about girl names that end with other sounds?

Below is a selection of girl names that end with a V-sound, regardless of last letter. The names are ordered by current popularity.

Maeve
An Anglicized form of the Irish name Medb, meaning “intoxicating.” Here’s the popularity graph for Maeve.

Olive
From the type of tree. Here’s the popularity graph for Olive.

Genevieve
Based on the medieval name Genovefa (which belonged to a 5th-century French saint). Here’s the popularity graph for Genevieve.

Eve
From the Hebrew name Chavvah, which may mean “life.” Here’s the popularity graph for Eve.

Liv
A nickname for Olivia (or Olive). Here’s the popularity graph for Liv.

Love
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Love.

Dove
From the type of bird. Here’s the popularity graph for Dove.

Cove
From the English vocabulary word that refers to a small, sheltered bay. Here’s the popularity graph for Cove.

Neve
An Anglicized form of the Irish name Niamh, meaning “bright.” Here’s the popularity graph for Neve.

Brave
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Brave.

Aviv
A Hebrew word meaning “spring.” (It’s a component of Tel Aviv, the name of the city in Israel.) Here’s the popularity graph for Aviv.

Clove
From the type of spice. Here’s the popularity graph for Clove.

Arev
An Armenian word meaning “sun.” Here’s the popularity graph for Arev.

Reeve
From the English surname, which originally referred to a person employed as a reeve (“an official responsible for the administration of a manor”). Here’s the popularity graph for Reeve.

Believe
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Believe.


Less-common girl names that end with a V-sound include Merav, Tatev, Lyubov, Einav, Jasneev, Viv, and Wave.

Which of the above do you like most? What others can you think of?

P.S. Here are lists of girl names that end with D-, K-, L-, M-, R-, S-, T-, and Z-sounds.

Sources:

  • SSA
  • Behind the Name
  • Hanks, Patrick, Simon Lenarcic and Peter McClure. (Eds.) Dictionary of American Family Names. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.


Popular baby names in NWT, 2019

According to Cabin Radio, the most popular* baby names in the Canadian territory of Northwest Territories in 2019 were Zoey and Elias/John/Joseph/Michael (4-way tie).

Here are Northwest Territories’ top girl names and top boy names of 2019:

Girl Names

  1. Zoey (4 girls)
  2. Emily, Hazel, Kinsley, Lily (3 girls each)
  3. Adeline, Alexandra, Amelia, Anastasia, Ashley, Aurora, Blair, Edie, Ella, Evelyn, Everly, Helena, Josie, Lexie, Lilah, Madeline, Madison, Miley, Myla, Nevaeh, Neve, Ruby, Ruth, Sadie, Serenity, Sofia, Sophie, Victoria, Willa (2 girls each)

Boy Names

  1. Elias, John, Joseph, Michael (3 boys each)
  2. Aiden, Benjamin, Bodhi, Carter, Charles, David, Dominic, Dylan, Edward, Elliott, Felix, Hudson, Iverson, Jack, Jeremiah, Jimmy, Jonah, Joshua, Lennox, Levi, Mackenzie, Maverick, Nate, Nathan, Nicholas, Noah, Riel, Theo, Timothy, Walker, Wesley (2 boys each)

In 2018, the top names in NWT were Carter, John, Olivia, and Peyton (with 4 babies each). In 2015, the top names were Abigail and Liam. And in 2020, the very first baby born in NWT was named Axel.

Sources: Zoey is the NWT’s most popular baby name of 2019, The NWT’s top baby names of 2018

*These rankings only cover NWT births through early December.

Celebrity baby name: Neve Te Aroha

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern

In June of 2018, Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and her partner Clarke Gayford welcomed a baby girl.

The baby’s name? Neve Te Aroha (pronounced NEEV tay-AH-roh-hah).

Ardern said:

[W]e chose Neve because we just liked it, and when we met her we thought she looked like she suited the name. Also, it means — in various forms — it means bright and radiant, and snow which seemed like a good combination for Matariki [the Maori New Year] and for solstice.

Neve is an Anglicized form of the Irish name Niamh, which means “bright.” Its spelling corresponds to the word for “snow” in several romance languages, including Italian and Portuguese.

The Maori term te aroha, which means “the love,” was chosen to reflect the love and generosity shown to the family — particularly by the various Maori tribes (iwi) — during the pregnancy. Ardern added:

It’s also the place where all my family are from, as well — it’s a place name. And I grew up under that mountain [Mount Te Aroha].

Neither Neve nor Te Aroha has ever been popular enough to rank as one of the top 100 girl names in New Zealand. Niamh and Aroha, however, have both made the top 100 exactly once: Niamh in 2000, Aroha in 1982.

P.S. Upon the arrival of Neve, Jacinda Ardern became the second elected head of government to give birth while in office. The first was Benazir Bhutto, who was serving as the prime minister of Pakistan when she gave birth to her daughter Bakhtawar in early 1990.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 2018 by Newzild under CC BY-SA 4.0.

[Latest update: Nov. 2023]

Where did the baby name Neve come from in 1996?

neve campbell, party of five, 1990s, baby name

The baby name Neve, an anglicized form of the Irish name Niamh (meaning “bright”), first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1996:

  • 1998: 38 baby girls named Neve
  • 1997: 29 baby girls named Neve
  • 1996: 8 baby girls named Neve [debut]
  • 1995: unlisted
  • 1994: unlisted

Who kicked it off?

Actress Neve Campbell, one of the stars of the TV show Party of Five. The show premiered in 1994, but didn’t become popular until 1996, after winning the Golden Globe for “Best Television Series – Drama” that January.

Neve played 15-year-old Julia Salinger, middle child of the five orphaned Salinger siblings. (Their parents had died in a car accident.) Julia had older brothers named Charlie and Bailey, a younger sister named Claudia, and a baby brother named Owen.

The show didn’t do much for the names Charlie or Claudia, and Julia was already on the rise, thanks to Julia Roberts. But it definitely gave the name Bailey a boost as a boy name. And it seems to have kicked off the long (and continuing!) rise of the name Owen.

Do you like the name Neve? What spelling do you prefer?

Sources: Party of Five – Wikipedia, SSA