What is Meryl Streep’s real name?

Entertainers have a long-running trend of using stage names instead of their given names for work. And Hollywood icon Meryl Streep is no exception!

Receiving her first Oscar nomination for The Deer Hunter in 1978, merely a year after her feature film debut in Hollywood, Meryl Streep rose to fame as the best and most promising actress of her generation. She won her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing the troubled wife Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer a year later in 1979.

After almost five decades in the industry, Streep now has a record 21 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and a record 34 Golden Globe Award nominations, winning nine. She also won two BAFTA Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Silver Bear and Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and Best Actress, Honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

But the famous name, proudly attached to these achievements, wasn’t the one she was born with.

Meryl Streep’s real name

Dropping the bomb right away, “Meryl” is a nickname given to the iconic actress by her mother in childhood that stuck throughout her legendary career. The actress’ real name is Mary Louise Streep, which was given to her after her birth on June 22, 1949, in Summit, New Jersey to artist Mary Wilkinson Streep and pharmaceutical executive Harry William Streep Jr. She also has two younger brothers, Harry William Streep III and Dana David Streep, both actors as well.

Now you may have the question, why “Meryl”? Though the actress never really opened up about the nuances behind her nickname, “Meryl” might be a blend of her first name Mary, and the initial L of her middle name Louise. But “Maryl isn’t fancy enough, so “Meryl” it is. The actress decided on the name early in her career and has been credited as Meryl Streep in her very first feature film Julia (1977).

Streep’s mother has had a huge influence on both her name and her career

So, Meryl Streep’s mother is to be credited for giving the iconic name to the legendary actress, but she is also the one who encouraged her to pursue her dreams. In a conversation with Michelle Obama for Vanity Fair, Streep opened up about how her mother was her mentor.

“She was a mentor because she said to me, ‘Meryl, you’re capable. You’re so great.’ She was saying, ‘You can do whatever you put your mind to. If you’re lazy, you’re not going to get it done. But if you put your mind to it, you can do anything.'”

Even today, Meryl Streep channels her mother’s energy when stepping in front of the cameras or addressing the public. Despite seeing herself as more introverted than her outgoing mother, Streep admits, “When I have to be in the spotlight, I think to myself, ‘Mary [Streep] could do it.'” Thus, in a sense, Mary is responsible for both Meryl’s legendary name and her subsequent rise to fame as an actor.