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Meriel

Girls' name

Variant of Muriel

Meriel has been given to 376 babies in the U.S. since 1916. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1934, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Meriel, 2014

1 in 285,000

Meriel over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Meriel: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Muriel

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Meriel means

Meriel is a variant of Muriel.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Meriel is used in English (Archaic).

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈmɛɹ.i.əl/ for Meriel.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Meriel → Muriel. The family’s meaning is “sea”, recorded in English with the source elements muir.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Muriel.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 376 girls were recorded with the name Meriel between 1916 and 2014. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1934; its best national rank was #2,145 in 1934.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Meriel?

Meriel had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2014, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2014
1 in 285,000
13 of 3,706,812 births
Among girls only
1 in 137,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2014
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
197,645 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Meriel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2014 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 197,645 children born in 2014 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Meriel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Meriels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Meriel was born before 1984 — so the typical Meriel is around 41 today.

Median birth year
1984
About 41 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
21.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
44.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
250
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 21.8% of all recorded uses (82).

Is Meriel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1934 (15)
Years since peak
91
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,145
1934

Spellings of Meriel

Meriel is not the most common spelling — Marie is, with 68.7% against Meriel's 0.05%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Meriel around the world

Where Meriel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1997–2021
    #5,581
    in 2021
  • Ireland
    1965–1965
    #385
    in 1965
  • South Australia
    1965–1991
    #669
    in 1991

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Meriel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,145
1934
Peak year
1934
15 that year
First recorded
1916
Last recorded
2014
All-time count
376
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Meriel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MerrielMerrynMercieMeraryMerrinMeryemMercerMerriamMerlinMeritMerrickMerynMerritMeralMerariMeryleMerinaMeridaMerittMertisMerlynMerlinaDarielZuriel

Sibling names for Meriel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Meriel

Top names of 1934, Meriel's peak yearThe 1930s in fullOther names that peaked in 1934Girls' names starting with M