Muriel

Where Muriel comes from

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Muireall, from muir (“sea”), from Old Irish muir, from Proto-Celtic *mori, from Proto-Indo-European *móri; + geal (“white, bright”), from Old Irish gel, from Proto-Celtic *gelos (“yellow, white”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Muriel
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #679 among girls — 7 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1918
    Muriel Spark born
    Scottish novelist and writer
  3. 1922
    Peak, #112
    2,392 babies named Muriel — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1931
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #172.
  5. 1969
    Muriel Barbery born
    French writer
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Scottish Gaelic of mostly British usage.
Namesakes
  • Muriel Spark · Scottish novelist and writer, 1918–2006
  • Muriel Barbery · French writer, born 1969
  • Muriel Bowser · Mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015, born 1972
  • Muriel Robb · English tennis player, 1878–1907
  • Muriel Humphrey · American politician, 1912–1998

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.