Margaret: Meaning, Popularity, Origin of Baby Name Margaret | Girls

Margaret

Pronunciation: MAHR-grit (key)

Origin of the name Margaret:

From the Greek Margarītēs, which is derived from maragon (a pearl).

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US Popularity of Margaret Over Time

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Comments and insights on the name Margaret: | Edit
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Personal experiences with the name Margaret: | Edit

Creative, observant, independent, wise, spontaneous, intuitive, confident, multi-tasking, insight, enjoys nature, and enjoys learning.

A name to grow into. Growing up I took a lot of abuse for my name. People would ask me why my parents named me with such a stupid old fashioned name. Or,not use my name, but call me one of the myriad of nicknames for Margaret. Peggy or Marge were common choices and I would be treated very rudely for insisting my name was Margaret. My family will sometime refer to me as Marg or Margie (with a hard 'g'), but my parents specifically named us so our names could not be shortened to a diminutive. At one time I wished I had a more common name that wasn't subject to ridicule, but after becoming an adult I realize it is a name of dignity, strength and and royalty.

This is my given name although I've always been called Molly - so Margaret feels like it belongs to this whole other person. I've never really liked it, as a kid or as an adult, and I'm happy to have my "nickname" as my "real" name.

So many people say that they are teased for their name, but I, with the name Margaret, am not teased at all.

Nicknames for Margaret: | Edit

Meg, Peg, Margie, Maggie, Madge, Maisie, Greta, Gretchen, Megan, May, Maj, Meta, Marge, Peggy, Margo, Daisy, Marty, Marti,Mags,Mag, Molly, Margie, Rita, Marnie, Marg(with a hard 'g'), Margie (with a hard 'g') Marley

Meanings and history of the name Margaret: | Edit

Note 1:
Margaret comes from Greek and means pearl.
Note 2:
Origin is said to be - Persian, (and/or)Greek, (and/or)Latin.
MEANING: more widely as "Pearl"; however also as "a Daughter (and/or) a Child of light".

Famous real-life people named Margaret: | Edit

Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal - American actress
Margaret Grace "Maggie" Denig - American actress
Margaret Thatcher - former English Prime Minister
Margaret Mitchell - American author
Margaret Cho - American comedian
Margaret Peterson Haddix - American author
Margaret Mead - American anthropologist
Margaret Travolta - American actress; sister of John
Margaret Wise Brown - American children's author
Margaret Bourke-White - American photographer
Margaret "Marlo" Thomas - American actress
Margaret Chase Smith, American politician. She was the first women to serve in both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives.
Margaret Court - Australian tennis player
Margaret Warner Morley - American biologist and author
Margaret Floy Washburn - American psychologist

Margaret in song, story & screen: | Edit

"Are You There God? It's Me Margaret," a book by Judy Blume
There are three generations of Margarets in the book "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott: Marmee, her oldest daughter (Meg), and Meg's oldest daughter (Daisy). ("'He's to be named John Laurence, and the girl Margaret after mother and grandmother. We shall call her Daisy so as not to have two Megs ... said Amy with auntlike interest.'")
Meg (Margaret) Murry, from the book A Wrinkle in Time (and others) by Madeleine L'Engle
"The Abduction of Margaret", song by the Decemberists
"Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)", song by the Decemberists
"Margaret in Captivity", song by the Decemberists
"Margaret vs. Pauline," song by Neko Case
"Margaret," song by Jill Sobule
Meggie (Margaret) from the Inkheart series
"It's Me Again, Margaret", comedy song by Ray Stevens
"Marnie," the movie by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Tippi Hedren. Hedren's character's name was Margaret; Marnie was her nickname.
Margaret, bossy neighbor girl in the Dennis the Menace comic strip
Margaret Tate, in the hit 2009 romantic comedy The Proposal.

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84
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Smart?

56
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Sexy?

69
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Friendly?

66
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Creative?

79
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Strong?

50
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Young?

77
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Sophisticated?

NameMapper

Current Popularity of Margaret by State

Global Popularity of the Name Margaret

  • #180 in United States
  • #193 in Canada (British Columbia)
  • #515 in Scotland