ninan.org

Margaret

Girls' name · Early 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~504,700 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#112 among girls
Births in 2025
2,436 1,268,519 since 1880
Typical age
68 years, median

Margaret popularity over time

Margaret rank by birth year, 1880–2025Margaret ranked #6 in 1880 and #112 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #3, in 1891.#10#100#112best #3 in 189118901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 1921: 28,521 births recorded as Margaret. The name is already in use in 1880, where the data begins. It has held a top-100 place in 104 separate years.

In 2025 it ranked #112 with 2,436 births.

Babies named Margaret per yearPeaks at 28,521 births in 1921.28,521 in 1921018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Margaret?

An estimated 504,700 living Americans are called Margaret. That is out of 1,268,519 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Margaret?

Half of living Margarets are older than 68, half younger. Most living bearers were born in the 1950s. By the site’s era rules that makes Margaret a early 20th-century perennial name.

Your Margaret

Ages of living people named MargaretHalf of living Margarets are older than 68 and half younger.median 68020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Margaret is most common

The name is concentrated in District of Columbia, at 5.2× the national rate. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine follow.

Where Margaret is used more than average5 states use the name Margaret more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: 2.6× the national rateMEVermont: 4.2× the national rateVTNew Hampshire: 2.9× the national rateNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: 2.3× the national rateSCDistrict of Columbia: 5.2× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Margaret is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
District of Columbia 214 5.2×
Vermont 65 4.2×
New Hampshire 150 2.9×
Maine 124 2.6×
South Carolina 589 2.3×

Margaret in England and Wales

ONS recorded 98 births named Margaret in 2025, ranking it #413. That is 21% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Margaret comes from

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 (“pearl”), ultimately from an Indo-Iranian source.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Margaret

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Margaret Thatcher British stateswoman and prime minister 1925–2013 207
Margaret Atwood Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, pépiniériste and inventor 1939 109
Margaret Mitchell American author and journalist 1900–1949 100
Margaret Mead American anthropologist 1901–1978 96
Margaret I of Denmark Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden 1353–1412 63
Margaret Sanger American birth control activist and nurse 1879–1966 63
Margaret Court Australian tennis player 1942 61
Margaret Qualley American actress 1994 56
Photo credits (7)

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/margaret.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).