Muriel is from the Irish-Scottish *Muirgheal* — *muir* (sea) + *geal* (bright) — "bright sea." **A top-100 US baby name from 1899 to 1930**. **Dame Muriel Spark (1918-2006)** — **Scottish novelist; her 1961 *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* is on the *Modern Library* 100 Best Novels and the *Time* All-Time 100 Best English Novels Since 1923**; published 22 novels including *Memento Mori* (1959) and *The Driver's Seat* (1970). **Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1993)**. **The first woman in 90 years to receive the David Cohen Prize for Lifetime Achievement in British Literature (1997)**. **Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980)** — American Jewish poet whose 1938 *U.S. 1* documented the Hawk's Nest Tunnel silicosis disaster — credited with founding documentary poetry. **Muriel Siebert (1928-2013)** — first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (1967); first woman to chair the New York Stock Exchange (1990-1994). **Muriel (1994 Australian film)** — Toni Collette's breakthrough. **Muriel Box** — first British woman to direct an Oscar-winning film (Best Original Screenplay, *The Seventh Veil*, 1946).
Featured throughout 20th-century literature and finance.
Muriel reduces to seven — the number of bright sea.