Meryl
Short form of Mary or variation of Meriel, Irish, "of the bright sea"
Meryl is the perfect example of a name that’s famous, via actress Meryl Streep, born on June 22, 1949, and at the same time rare. In fact, Meryl is pretty close to a one-person name, ala Oprah and Sigourney, inextricably tied to Streep and used for only 23 baby girls in the US last year.
Streep’s name is an invented nickname for Mary Louise, though Meryl might also be short for Muriel or Meriel, a truly unique name with an ocean-inspired meaning.
I absolutely love this name, and there are so many ways to spell it, too. Maryl, Marel, Merel, the list goes on.
I have also sometimes heard that it's connected to the French word for blackbird (merle) or that it has Greek origins related to Myrrh.