Margo
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Meaning
variant of Margot, the French short form of Marguerite (Margaret: Greek margarites, "pearl")
Famously borne by Margo Hayes, the first woman to climb the 5.15a grade.
The story
Margo is the pearl, four steps removed: Behind the Name chains it as a variant of Margot, the French short form of Marguerite, the French form of Margaret, from Greek margarites, pearl, a word probably borrowed from an Indo-Iranian language before Greek ever had it. Midcentury America loved it: about 4,800 girls in the 1940s and about 5,900 in the 1950s. Then the long ebb, down to about 890 in the 2000s, and the vintage turn: about 1,800 in the 2010s and about 2,950 so far this decade. The o-ending does modern work on an old jewel of a name, and the French sister spelling Margot climbs beside it. Short, chic, and carrying a pearl at the bottom of it.
Margo across languages
One shared root links 17 names across 7 languages.
Shared root: from Greek margarites "pearl", by way of Latin Margarita
The constellation
13 more branches of this family
How popular is Margo around the world?
In the United States, 2,953 babies were named Margo between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 11 girls named Margo were registered in 2024, the 315th most common name among girls that year.
Margo is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, Poland, France, Brazil and Spain.
United States
1 in 7,400
In the United States, 2,953 babies were named Margo between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Margo peaked in the 2020s. In US birth records Margo has stayed between 886 and 5,891 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 4,200
In Scotland, 11 girls named Margo were registered in 2024, the 315th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 4,900
In England and Wales, 120 girls named Margo were born in 2025, the 357th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 8,100
In Canada, 45 girls named Margo were born in 2024, the 633rd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Ireland
1 in 14,000
In Ireland, 4 girls named Margo were born in 2025, the 718th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Poland
1 in 120,000
In Poland, 2 girls named Margo were born in 2025, the 706th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 girls named Margo were born in 2025, ranked 3,619th among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Brazil
1 in 330,000
At the 2022 census, 548 people in Brazil were named Margo, ranked 12,547th, with a median age of 52.
Among people named Margo living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1960s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 71 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Spain
1 in 950,000
In Spain, 47 residents are named Margo, ranked 14,738th among women, with a mean age of 36.7 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Argentina
last on record 2020
Margo is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Austria
last on record 2024
Margo is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
South Australia
last on record 2014
Margo is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Mexico City, Puerto Rico and New Zealand: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Margo deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Margo 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 Margo fits with your family’s names and surname.
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