Margaret

What Margaret means

Means “pearl”

From the name of 3rd century Saint Margaret the Virgin, from Middle English Margaret, from Old French Margaret (French Marguerite), from Latin Margarita, from Ancient Greek μαργαρίτης (margarítēs, “pearl”), ultimately from an Indo-Iranian s

Source: Wiktionary, “Margaret” (revision 94541482), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Margaret?

US: Rising: up from #155 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #492 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1916, when 24,953 girls got the name (#4 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 660 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,584 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,278 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (8.92 per 1,000 girls), WY (7.4 per 1,000 girls), ND (5.19 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Margaret is #112 in the US and #413 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Margaret were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Margarette12 US
• Margarett7 US
• Margarete7 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Nicknames

• Greta
• Gretchen
• Madge
• Mae
• Maggie
• Mags
• Maisie
• Margaery
• Marge
• Margery
• Margie
• Margo

Listed on Wiktionary under “variants and pet forms of the given name”.

If you like Margaret

Girls

• Irene#651“peace”^*
• Veronica#427Form of Berenice, meaning “bringer of victory”^*
• Teresa#908Editor’s note Down from #664 in 2015 to #908 in 2025 in the US
• Cassandra#630Editor’s note Down from #512 in 2015 to #630 in 2025 in the US
• Sara#198Variant of Sarah, meaning “masters, princes”^*
• Melissa#419“bee, honey, or honeybee”^*

For a brother

• Peter#187“stone, rock”^*
• George#126“farmer, earth worker”^*
• Eugene#943“well born”^*
• Philip#527“fond of horses”^*
• Damon#501“to tame, subdue”^*
• Stephen#383“crown, wreath”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Margaret’s. Rank is US 2025.