Maevy McGuinness Taylor

Maevy "she who intoxicates" or "cause of great joy"

Your name...well sometime during the fall 2008, Mommy and Daddy were watching one of our favorite shows, Arrested Development. And there's a character on the show named, Maeby. At this point, we knew we were having a girl, and randomly I said to Daddy, "What about Maeby?" I don't remember what he said, but by the end of week, he really liked it. I did a lot of research online and found that mostly pets were being named Maeby. Men seemed to really liked the name, but women hated it. Then I learned that the name actually was a combination of the show's creator's daughters' names: May and Phoebe.

I thought about it and just couldn't name you a made-up name. So we were back to the drawing board. I called your dad one afternoon and said, "Meet meet me at Borders, the baby book section." We sprawled out on the floor and look at a bunch of books. We had already agreed on giving you Grandma Wyckoff's maiden name, McGuinness, for your middle name. And I thought it would be nice to name you a "M" name to also honor your other Grandma, known affectionately by most as "M" or "MT". I also thought it would be nice to stay within an Irish theme. That's a lot of perimeters!

By the end of the night, we had both written down our top 5 names and then shared them with each other. I think Maggie and Scarlett were on the list. I liked Molly, but your dad had 2 ex-girfriends with that name. We kept coming back to Maeve. Coincidentally our birthing class teacher had a named her daughter Maeve. I really liked the meaning. It started with an "M" (Check). It was Irish (Check). One of the books said that Maeve was making a comeback and a variation of Maeve was Maevy.

It took a few weeks, but Maevy started to grow on us. And it was so similar to our original idea of Maeby. Plus, I liked that the origin of your name had a Celtic legend associated with it. I haven't yet, but I plan on getting you a children's book I found that tells different Celtic stories, including the one of Queen Maeve. (See below for a basic version.)

We kept the name a secret from most, although your Aunt (Lesley and Robyn) guessed it about a month before. I did give them some major clues like- Irish and starts with an M.

So that's it- Maevy. I think it took everyone a little time to get used to it. It definitely fits you and we get compliments all the time on how pretty and unique it is. Currently our favorite nicknames for you are Maev & Maevster.

Maevy McGuinness

We hope you like it. Love- Mommy & Daddy

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The Legend of Queen Maeve-
The legend of the Iron Age Queen Maeve of Connacht (also spelled Connaught), Ireland, is told in the story of "The Cattle Raid of Cooley" or "The Tain Bo Cuillaigne." Thought to be one of the oldest epics in Western European literature written using colloquial language, it tells the story of how Queen Maeve of Connacht, who was given Connacht by her father the high King of Ireland, waged war against the men of Ulster while they are suffering from a curse by the goddess Macha that makes them feel the pain a woman does during childbirth. Queen Maeve's attack is waged an attempt to obtain Ulster's famed magical Brown Bull after an argument with her husband, Ailill, over who is the richer. She chides her husband for being a kept man saying she is richer. But when they tally up their wealth, his famed magical White Bull puts his amount higher than hers. Queen Maeve of Connacht does not like to lose an argument and so, taking advantage of the men of Ulster's weakness, initiated the raid. For some reason, King Ailill supported her in this quest even though their argument is what sparked the war. During the long battle, warrior hero Cuchulainn, born half-mortal, half-immortal and somehow able to escape the curse of goddess Macha inflicting the other men of Ulster, fought valiantly while taking on thousands of Queen Maeve's men. The Ulstermen ultimately drove the Connacht army out of their lands, but not before Queen Maeve captured the great Brown Bull she sought. Some say the Ulster bull was taken to Connacht where it fought Ailill's bull, killed it, then wandered back home to Ulster.