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I think it is English. There are villages called Merrivale in Devon and in Herefordshire, and the place name could be the origin of the surname. If that is the case, it probably means "pleasant valley". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has several entries for indivuals named Merivale, all of one family. It says of the surname that it is in the Parish Register of Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, spelt Merivayle, from 1558 0nwards.