Not conclusively known. The name, which was a personal epithet of Judas Maccabeus and not an inherited surname, may derive from the Aramaic (makkaba, “hammer”), in reference to Judas’s ferocity in battle. Conversely, the traditional Jewish explanation is that מַכַּבִּי (makkabbī) is an acronym both of מִי־כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְהוָה (Mi chamocha ba’elim YHWH, “Who is like You among the heavenly powers, YHWH!”) — the Torah’s Exodus 15:11, which was the Maccabees’ battle-cry — and of מַתִּתְיָהוּ בֶּן יוֹחָנָן הַכֹּהֵן (Matityahu ben Yoḥanan HaKohen, “Mattathias”). Yet another possibility is that the name is a corruption of מַכְבַּנַּי (makebbanáy, “Machbanai”).
מַכַּבִּי • (makabí) m (plural indefinite מַכַּבִּים)