Margaret
Meaning
pearl
Goes by Daisy, Greta, Madge, Maggie, and 8 more
Famously borne by Margaret Tudor, both queens of medieval Britain.
The story
Margaret is Greek at its root, margarites, the pearl, a jewel of a meaning that medieval Europe took to heart. Saints and queens wore it across a dozen countries, from Margaret of Antioch in the old legends to Margaret of Scotland, and it arrived in America as pure establishment: a top name at the turn of the twentieth century, where the chart below begins near its ceiling. The long decline through mid-century looked terminal by the 1980s, but Margaret had another act in it. Like many of the so-called grandmother names, its line has turned back upward in recent years, helped by an astonishing wardrobe of nicknames: Maggie, Meg, Margot, Greta, Peggy, even Daisy, by way of the French marguerite. A pearl, after all, does not stop being a pearl because it spent a few decades in the drawer.
Margaret around the world
One shared root links 17 names across 7 languages.
Shared root: from Greek margarites "pearl", by way of Latin Margarita
The constellation
14 more branches of this family
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Margaret peaked in the 1890s and the 1900s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
3,313 people · the #3,625 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 62,500 · median age 57
Among people named Margaret living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Margaret
People given the name Margaret in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 1989. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Margaret deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Margaret truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Margaret fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Margaret · Nicknames for Margaret · Saint names for babies and confirmation · Names of kings and queens
Does Margaret fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Margaret to your family’s tree →