From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muriel
MURE -ee-əl
[1] is a feminine
given name in the
English language .
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
[2] 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."
[3]
The name Muriel was listed in the top 200 names from 1912 to 1933, with its highest rate of popularity in the 1920s.
[4] Since that time, use of the name has declined and is now rare.
Notable persons 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 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 Lanchester (1902–1992), British puppeteer
Muriel Lloyd Prichard (1905–1991), British academic, economist, and writer
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 the Poetess (11th century), poet at
Wilton Abbey
[5]
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
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
Muriel Pritchett, character in the Anne Tyler novel
The Accidental Tourist (1985)
Muriel Rush, female lead role in the sitcom
Too Close for Comfort
Muriel Stacy, Anne's teacher in
Anne of Green Gables
Muriel Taggert, the villain of the first
Fablehaven book
Muriel Prewett, great-aunt of Ron Weasley in
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2009)
Muriel Alison Goldberg Schwartz, daughter of Erica Goldberg Schwartz and Geoffrey Schwartz in
The Goldbergs (2022)
See also
References
^
"Muriel" .
Dictionary.com . Retrieved 4 February 2011 . which cited: Dictionary.com Unabridged ,
Random House .
^
Hanks, Patrick ; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names , Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.),
Oxford University Press , pp. 199, 352, 406,
ISBN
978-0-19-861060-1
^ Dinah Craik, John Halifax, Gentleman , Kessinger Publishing, p. 262.
^
"Muriel - Baby Name Meaning, Origin, and Popularity" . Nameberry . Retrieved 2022-01-05 .
^ Hilton, Lisa (2008).
Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens . London, UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
ISBN
9780297852612 .