girls' name ★ peaked 1921

Margaret

Meaning pearl Gender Girl Rank 2025 #112 Trend → Stable

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…

Rank 2025
#112
among girls · ↑7 vs 2024
Babies in 2025
2,436
named Margaret · +5% vs 2024
How common
1 in 660
girls born in 2025
Peak year
1921
28,521 babies
All-time total
1,268,519
#7 all-time among girls
First recorded
1880
in Social Security records

Margaret popularity over time

1,268,519 babies have been named Margaret since 1880, according to official Social Security records. Switch measure to see births per year or the yearly rank.

Measure
Births per 1,000 babies of that sex, comparable across eras
7.51522.53018801900192019401960198020002020GirlsBoys
GirlsBoys

By decade. Change compares yearly averages, so the current partial decade is on equal footing. Best rank is the name's best yearly rank within the decade.

Decade Girls Boys Total Per year Change Best rank
1880s 21,799 95 21,894 2,189 – #4
1890s 37,937 123 38,060 3,806 +74% #3
1900s 57,919 218 58,137 5,814 +53% #3
1910s 189,234 473 189,707 18,971 +226% #3
1920s 245,011 698 245,709 24,571 +30% #4
1930s 157,369 708 158,077 15,808 -36% #5
1940s 173,028 490 173,518 17,352 +10% #11
1950s 149,582 316 149,898 14,990 -14% #15
1960s 81,870 260 82,130 8,213 -45% #36
1970s 31,947 120 32,067 3,207 -61% #80
1980s 30,352 160 30,512 3,051 -5% #90
1990s 31,294 66 31,360 3,136 +3% #102
2000s 23,919 12 23,931 2,393 -24% #110
2010s 20,036 6 20,042 2,004 -16% #127
2020s (to 2025) 13,477 – 13,477 2,246 +12% #112

Where Margaret is heading

A five-year projection from the recent trend in births per 1,000 girls (damped so it flattens over time), converted to babies at today's birth totals. The implied rank places that projection in the 2025 field. A projection, not a promise: real trends bend.

Year Projected babies Per 1,000 girls Implied rank
2026 2,459 1.53 #111
2027 2,479 1.54 #109
2028 2,497 1.55 #109
2029 2,511 1.56 #108
2030 2,524 1.57 #107

Where Margaret is most popular

Girls named Margaret per 1,000 girls born in each state, 2021–2025. National average: 1.39 per 1,000. Strongest in District of Columbia, Vermont, and Maine.

Vs national average
well below below near national above well above no data

All 50 states and DC, sorted by rate. Counts are girls named Margaret born 2021–2025; the per-1,000 rate makes states of different sizes comparable, and the last column shows each state against the national average.

State Girls 2021–2025 Per 1,000 vs national
District of Columbia 100 8.44 +507%
Vermont 38 7.84 +464%
Maine 64 4.14 +198%
New Hampshire 75 4.06 +192%
Alabama 337 3.59 +158%
South Carolina 298 3.31 +138%
Kansas 185 3.21 +131%
Rhode Island 40 3.19 +130%
Nebraska 109 3.03 +118%
North Dakota 39 2.97 +113%
Montana 38 2.81 +102%
Missouri 334 2.77 +99%
Minnesota 295 2.73 +97%
Iowa 157 2.69 +93%
Massachusetts 324 2.68 +93%
Virginia 456 2.68 +92%
Alaska 23 2.67 +92%
Wisconsin 268 2.60 +87%
Wyoming 11 2.58 +86%
Tennessee 383 2.42 +74%
Mississippi 113 2.42 +74%
Indiana 331 2.36 +70%
Connecticut 137 2.35 +69%
Idaho 77 2.30 +65%
Colorado 248 2.22 +60%
Kentucky 188 2.20 +58%
Louisiana 190 2.17 +56%
Pennsylvania 506 2.14 +54%
Michigan 381 2.09 +50%
Maryland 219 2.07 +49%
North Carolina 469 2.06 +48%
Ohio 480 2.02 +45%
Utah 167 2.01 +44%
Illinois 450 1.97 +41%
Oregon 125 1.92 +38%
Georgia 433 1.91 +37%
South Dakota 27 1.89 +36%
Washington 245 1.70 +22%
Oklahoma 124 1.68 +21%
Arkansas 89 1.68 +21%
Delaware 16 1.41 ≈ national
West Virginia 36 1.37 ≈ national
New Mexico 32 1.32 -5%
New Jersey 224 1.24 -11%
New York 477 1.20 -13%
Texas 842 1.05 -25%
Florida 338 0.790 -43%
Hawaii 9 0.785 -44%
Arizona 107 0.763 -45%
California 554 0.659 -53%
Nevada 30 0.646 -54%

State counts come from the Social Security Administration's state files, which omit any state-year with fewer than five babies of a name, so small states can undercount slightly.

The story of Margaret

Margaret is moderately common for girls in the United States, ranked #112 in 2025 with 2,436 babies given the name. It is currently rising compared with a decade ago.

Since 1880, 1,268,519 American babies have been named Margaret. Its peak came in 1921, when 28,521 newborns received the name, the signature sound of the 1920s.

The chart above shows the full history: the popularity view (births per 1,000 babies) is the honest comparison across generations, since total US births have changed enormously since 1880. Switch to the rank view to see where Margaret stood among all girls' names in any year, or use the compare tool to plot it against other names.

How old are people named Margaret?

The median living Margaret is about 68 years old; half are between 49 and 78. An estimated 507 thousand people named Margaret are alive in the United States today.

median 68 020406080100

Estimated from births per year and Social Security period life tables; an approximation of the living age distribution, by age in years.

Margaret year by year

Every year since 2001, and five-year steps back to 1880. Rank is within each sex.

Year Girls Girls rank Boys Boys rank
2025 2,436 #112 – –
2024 2,316 #119 – –
2023 2,085 #132 – –
2022 2,199 #127 – –
2021 2,245 #125 – –
2020 2,196 #126 – –
2019 2,214 #127 – –
2018 2,334 #127 – –
2017 2,255 #132 – –
2016 2,217 #139 – –
2015 2,110 #155 – –
2014 1,951 #169 – –
2013 1,774 #180 – –
2012 1,780 #177 6 #11,738
2011 1,699 #186 – –
2010 1,702 #182 – –
2009 1,768 #187 – –
2008 1,865 #178 – –
2007 2,029 #173 – –
2006 2,188 #160 – –
2005 2,312 #151 – –
2004 2,436 #133 7 #9,582
2003 2,625 #128 5 #12,068
2002 2,678 #129 – –
2001 2,896 #118 – –
2000 3,122 #110 – –
1995 3,221 #104 11 #5,381
1990 3,372 #102 17 #3,549
1985 3,072 #90 16 #3,034
1980 2,859 #105 17 #2,802
1975 2,950 #98 13 #3,017
1970 4,704 #80 18 #2,185
1965 7,799 #52 24 #1,614
1960 11,362 #36 29 #1,509
1955 14,440 #24 35 #1,288
1950 18,110 #15 32 #1,282
1945 15,685 #15 37 #1,067
1940 15,063 #11 66 #764
1935 14,727 #8 72 #722
1930 18,350 #5 70 #768
1925 24,463 #5 80 #727
1920 27,994 #4 50 #982
1915 23,054 #4 53 #850
1910 8,226 #3 31 #508
1905 5,690 #3 13 #690
1900 5,304 #4 16 #641
1895 3,931 #4 9 #777
1890 3,100 #4 15 #501
1885 2,204 #5 11 #593
1880 1,578 #6 – –

Famous people named Margaret

The most globally famous bearers of the name, ranked by fame across Wikipedia editions (Pantheon project, MIT).

  1. 1 Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 1925–2013 · Contemporary
  2. 2 Margaret Atwood Margaret Atwood Canadian writer (born 1939) Contemporary
  3. 3 Margaret Tudor Margaret Tudor Queen of Scotland from 1503 to 1513 1489–1541 · Medieval
  4. 4 Margaret Keane Margaret Keane American artist (1927–2022) Contemporary
  5. 5 Margaret Brown Margaret Brown American Titanic survivor (1867–1932) 19th century
  6. 6 Margaret Hamilton Margaret Hamilton American software engineer (born 1936) Contemporary
  7. 7 Margaret of Anjou Margaret of Anjou Queen of England (1445–1461, 1470–1471) 1430–1482 · Medieval
  8. 8 Margaret of Valois Margaret of Valois Queen of France (1589–1599) and Navarre (1572–1599) 1553–1615 · 16th century
  9. 9 Margaret Mead Margaret Mead American cultural anthropologist (1901–1978) Contemporary
  10. 10 Margaret Mitchell Margaret Mitchell American novelist and journalist (1900–1949) Contemporary
  11. 11 Margaret Theresa of Spain Margaret Theresa of Spain Holy Roman Empress from 1666 to 1673 1651–1673 · 17th century
  12. 12 Margaret I of Denmark Margaret I of Denmark Scandinavian queen and founder of the Kalmar Union (1353–1412) Medieval
  13. 13 Margaret of York Politician, United Kingdom 1446–1503 · Medieval
  14. 14 Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1507 to 1530 1480–1530 · Medieval
  15. 15 Margaret the Virgin Margaret the Virgin Saint (275–304) usually shown with a dragon 292–307 · Antiquity
  16. 16 Margaret Mary Alacoque Margaret Mary Alacoque French Catholic saint and mystic (1647–1690) 17th century
  17. 17 Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain Queen of Spain and Portugal from 1599 to 1611 1584–1611 · 16th century
  18. 18 Margaret of Parma Margaret of Parma Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands in 1559–67 and 1578–82 1522–1586 · 16th century
  19. 19 Margaret of Provence Margaret of Provence Queen of France from 1234 to 1270 1221–1295 · Medieval
  20. 20 Margaret of France, Queen of England and Hungary Margaret of France, Queen of England and Hungary Queen of England, Hungary and Croatia (1158–1197) Medieval

Portraits from Wikipedia (Wikimedia Commons).

Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about Margaret, drawn from the same Social Security data as the charts above.

How old is the average Margaret?

The median living Margaret is about 68 years old. Half of all living Margarets are between 49 and 78 years old.

How many people named Margaret are alive today?

An estimated 507 thousand people named Margaret are alive in the United States, based on 1,268,519 recorded births and Social Security life tables.

What does the name Margaret mean?

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…

How popular is the name Margaret in 2025?

Margaret ranked #112 among girls' names in the United States in 2025, with 2,436 babies given the name, according to Social Security Administration data.

How many people are named Margaret?

1,268,519 babies have been named Margaret in the United States since 1880, based on Social Security card applications.

When was the name Margaret most popular?

Margaret peaked in 1921, when 28,521 newborns received the name.

Is Margaret a boy or girl name?

Margaret is overwhelmingly a girl's name: 100% of babies with the name.

Is the name Margaret rising or falling?

Margaret is on the rise, noticeably more popular now than a decade ago.

Will Margaret become more popular?

Margaret looks stable. If the recent trend holds, we project roughly 2,524 girls named Margaret in 2030, ranking around #107. Forecasts assume the current trend continues and become less certain further out.

Who are famous people named Margaret?

Well-known people named Margaret include Margaret Thatcher (politician), Margaret Atwood (writer), Margaret Tudor (companion).

Names like Margaret

Names that sound and feel close to Margaret: shared sounds, similar era, similar popularity. Each links to its full history.

Compare Margaret with similar names → More names starting with M →