← Back to The Early Middle Ages
Girl · Celtic, through Breton and Norman French
Muriel
Say it: MYOOR-ee-ul
Meaning
Probably from a Celtic name meaning 'sea-bright', from muir 'sea' and geal 'bright'.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Brought by Breton and Norman settlers, used in medieval England, and revived in the late 19th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1920s
In the United States
- 55,497 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1922, about 1 in 502 girls
- 20 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Meriel, Miriel, Muriella
| Irish | Muirgel |
|---|---|
| Scottish Gaelic | Muireall |
| Irish | Muirgheal |
Famous bearers
- Muriel Spark, Scottish novelist
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Medieval European charters and records
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.