Popsugar Celebrity Twitter Reactions What Is Meryl Streep’s Real Name? Guys, Get This: Meryl Streep's Real Name Is the Same as Her Character's on Big Little Lies 11 June 2019 by Kelsey Garcia First Published: 10 June 2019 Image Source: Getty / Monica Schipper / FilmMagic Meryl Streep officially made her debut as the meddling Mary Louise Wright in the season two premiere of Big Little Lies. Following the moody and mysterious episode, some viewers made the realisation that the actress shares a special connection with her character: her real name is Mary Louise Streep. The character was actually written with Meryl in mind, hence the name. Big Little Lies author and producer Liane Moriarty told Entertainment Tonight, "That's why she's called Mary Louise." She added, "In fact, in the beginning, I was calling her Meryl. Then I thought, 'No, that's too obvious. I'll find out her middle name.' And then Wikipedia told me that her real name is Mary Louise and [that name] actually worked perfectly for the character." While discussing her real name in a 2015 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Meryl explained that many women in her family have been named Mary. In fact, Meryl named her first daughter Mary Willa, who goes by Mamie. She went on to say that she has always gone by Meryl after her father "just made that name up." Meryl had other ideas, however, for her nickname, including Patty and Kathy. Maybe we're just used to it by now, but Meryl Streep has a nicer ring to it, right? Related: 9 Twists and Turns We Feel Pretty Sure Season 2 of Big Little Lies Is Going to Take Meryl Streep as Mary Louise Wright in Big Little Lies Image Source: HBO 1 / 13 Image Source: HBO 2 / 13 Image Source: HBO 3 / 13 Reactions to Meryl Streep's Name in Big Little Lies I didn't want to tweet it, because I didn't want to be that guy...but.You know Meryl's given name is Mary Louise, right?— Seth (@ohheyseth) June 10, 2019 4 / 13 #BigLittleLies Finding out Meryl Streep’s character name Mary Louise is her real life name has really gotten to me. Like- pic.twitter.com/GBfHZatmCk— Nina (@NinaJDel) June 10, 2019 5 / 13 Just want to make sure everyone knows that "Mary Louise," the name of Meryl's "Big Little Lies" character, is also Meryl Streep's real name.— Victoria Edel (@victoriaedel) June 10, 2019 6 / 13 Not many people know that Mary Louise is actually Meryl Streep's birth name 😂 #BigLittleLies— Lyndsey Elana (@lyndzz20) June 10, 2019 7 / 13 what’s most wild about #bll2 is that meryl streep’s literal real name is mary louise i—— emo ☕️🍜 (@dontbIameme13) June 10, 2019 8 / 13 I just need to mention that Mary Louise is also Meryl’s real name. #bigLittleLies2 pic.twitter.com/EqEcJX5Cu3— Samantha S. Stratton (@SomehowSamantha) June 10, 2019 9 / 13 i’m loving that Meryl Streep is using her actual name in #BigLittleLies— shirley bird (@Lamb_Sb_96) June 10, 2019 10 / 13 Ooooh Meryl Streep’s name in the new Big Little Lies season is Mary Louise which is her actual name thank you Big Little Lies producer!!— Abby Butts (@abigailbutts) June 10, 2019 11 / 13 liane moriarty, the author + producer of #biglittlelies created the character of mary louis wright and only had meryl streep in mind to play the role. turns out meryl streep’s real name is MARY LOUIS “MERYL” STREEP. pic.twitter.com/GZy6zxaLB0— abby (@abbypolanco) June 10, 2019 12 / 13 the slight drawback of mary louise being meryl’s real name is that any criticism of the character feels like it’s directed towards meryl in real life pic.twitter.com/ux7kMtxAUS— εѵα ✨ (@evamariestreep) June 10, 2019 13 / 13 Twitter ReactionsBig Little LiesCelebrity FactsMeryl StreepTV