Muriel

Origin/history

The name is of Goidelic origin and was originally spelled as Muirgheal (muir "sea", gheal "bright") in Irish and Muireall in Scottish Gaelic. Various versions have long been evident in Breton, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic languages. The name was very common in medieval England, typically in the form of "Merial". Unusually for a name of Celtic origin, it remained common after the Norman Conquest, although rare from about 1300.

Remaining common in Scotland as Muriel, the name in this form was introduced back into England in the mid-19th century, facilitated by Dinah Craik's 1856 novel John Halifax, Gentleman whose title character's daughter is named Muriel. Born in 1802, Muriel is said to be named "after the rather peculiar name of John's mother."

The name Meryl may be a variant of Muriel.

The name Muriel was listed in the top 200 names from 1912 to 1933, with its highest rate of popularity in the 1920s.

People with the given name

Muriel Anderson (born 1960), American guitarist

Muriel Angelus (1912–2004), British actress

Muriel Bamblett, advocate for Aboriginal child welfare in Victoria and Australia

Muriel Barbery (born 1969), Moroccan-born French novelist

Muriel Beaumont (1881–1957), British actress

Muriel Bell (1898–1974), New Zealand nutritionist and researcher

Muriel Bowser (born 1972), mayor of the District of Columbia

Muriel Box (1905–1991), British screenwriter and film director

Muriel Brandolini, French-Vietnamese interior designer

Muriel Broadbent (Edith Hacon) (1875–1952), British socialite, suffragist, WWI women's hospital volunteer

Muriel Brunskill (1899–1980), British contralto

Muriel Casals i Couturier (1945–2016), French-born Catalan economist

Muriel Cooper (1925–1994), American artist and designer

Muriel Davisson, American neuroscientist

Muriel Day (born 1942), Irish singer

Muriel Duckworth (1908–2009), Canadian activist

Muriel Evans (1910–2000), American actress

Muriel Fox (born 1928), American public relations executive and feminist activist

Muriel Forbes (1894–1991), British politician

Muriel Glauert (1892–1949), British mathematician

Muriel Gray (born 1958), Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist

Muriel Gustavo Becker (born 1987), Brazilian male footballer

Muriel Hannah (died 1969), Alaskan artist

Muriel Hind (1882–1956), pioneering British motorcyclist and motorist described as "the first woman motorcyclist in England"

Muriel Humphrey Brown (1912–1998), American "second lady", political wife and activist; briefly, a U.S. Senator

Muriel Jones (1890–1974), South African dancer and philanthropist

Muriel Kovitz (1926–2021), Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Calgary

Muriel Lamb (1911–2010), New Zealand architect

Muriel Langford (1913–2003), British/Australian missionary, linguist

Muriel Lanchester (1902–1992), British puppeteer

Muriel Lloyd Prichard (1905–1991), British academic, economist, and writer

Muriel Irwin MacDonald (1867-1918), Canadian-born American newspaper and magazine editor

Muriel Matters (1877–1969), Australian-born British suffragist, lecturer, journalist, educator, actress and elocutionist

Muriel Miguel (born 1937), Native American theatre director and choreographer

Muriel Millard (1922–2014), Canadian actress, dancer, painter, singer-songwriter

Muriel Moody (1907–1991), New Zealand ceramic artist

Muriel Nissel (1921–2010), British statistician and civil servant

Lady Muriel Paget (1876–1938), English aristocrat, humanitarian, and relief organiser

Muriel Pavlow (1921–2019), British actress

Muriel Robinson (born 1954), British academic administrator and education scholar

Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980), American poet and political activist

Muriel Smith (politician) (born 1930), Canadian politician from Manitoba

Muriel Smith (singer) (1923–1985), American mezzo-soprano

Muriel Spark (1918–2006), Scottish novelist

Muriel Stanley Venne – Indigenous women's rights advocate

Muriel the Poetess (11th century), poet at Wilton Abbey

Muriel Thomasset (born 1971), French physicist specializing in optics

Muriel Thompson (1875–1939), Scottish World War I ambulance driver, racing driver and suffragist

Muriel Villanueva i Perarnau (born 1976), Spanish writer

Muriel Watt (1917–2005), New Zealand landscape architect

Muriel Window (1892–1965), American singer, Ziegfeld Girl, pilot, restaurant owner

Muriel Young (1923–2001), English television continuity announcer, presenter and producer

Fictional characters

Muriel (Animal Farm), a goat in George Orwell's novel Animal Farm

Muriel, the main antagonist in the 2013 film Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Muriel, hotel maid who was a recurring character in the family sitcom The Suite Life of Zack & Cody

Muriel, a naïve junior angel, in series 2 of the fantasy-comedy series Good Omens

Muriel, an angel, the youngest brother of angels Lucifer Morningstar and Uriel in the Fox TV series Lucifer

Muriel Bagge, one of the main characters in Courage the Cowardly Dog

Chandler Muriel Bing, one of the male lead roles in the US TV sitcom Friends (1994–2004)

Muriel P. Finster in the animated series Recess

Muriel Glass in J. D. Salinger's short story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish"

Muriel Goldman, a supporting character in the series Family Guy

Muriel Hardwicke, the main antagonist of Eva Ibbotson's 1981 historical romance A Countess Below Stairs

Muriel Heslop, lead character in the 1994 Australian film Muriel's Wedding

Muriel McComber, teenage lead role in the Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness! (1933)

Lady Muriel Orme, one of the main characters in Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno novels