Given name & surname · also Turkish
Meral
Meral is a unisex given name from Ottoman Turkish, ultimately from Middle Mongol. It is used in Turkish.
Original TurkishMaral
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Meral comes from Ottoman Turkish, and ultimately from Middle Mongol.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Ottoman Turkish مرال (meral), from Middle Mongol 馬闌勒 (mǎránlè).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1985. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Meral through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 228
- 0 boys · 228 girls
- Most popular year
- 2018
- 24 babies
- 2025
- 16
- #7,033 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −38%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 16 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 7,033 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 37.8% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 24 in 2018. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 455 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Meral’s family of names
In Turkish usage, Meral shares an earlier linguistic root with MARAL. Meral has a related form in Meryl.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Meral
- Meral AkşenerTurkish historian, acafemic and politicianborn 1956
- Meral MenderesTurkish opera singer (1933–2011)
- Meral OkayTurkish actor and screenwriter (1959–2012)
- Meral ÇetinkayaTurkish actor (born 1945)
- Meral Danış BeştaşTurkish statesperson (born 1967)
- Meral TasbasSwedish television personality, singer and actress of Turkish originborn 1979
- Meral KonratTurkish actor (born 1963)
- Meral Hussein-Ece, Baroness Hussein-EceBritish politician (born 1953)
- Meral PerinTurkish-German actressborn 1965
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Meral, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Meryem
“to love”
>99% girls
Melike
Melike is a feminine given name from Ottoman Turkish, ultimately from Arabic. It is used in Turkish.
>99% girls
Meliha
“beautiful, graceful, elegant”
>99% girls
Zuhal
Zuhal is a feminine given name from Turkish. It is used in French.
>99% girls
Feride
“the only, the unique”
>99% girls
Macarena
“blessed, happy”
>99% girls
Defne
“laurel”
>99% girls
Halime
“the mild, gentle, patient”
>99% girls