Greek margarites, "pearl" — pearl. A saint's name that produced more nicknames than any other English name.
Margaret ranks 112th among American girls in 2025, with 2,436 born that year. Its best year was 1921, when 28,521 babies were given the name, ranking 4th. The typical living American called Margaret is about 72 years old today. It is relatively most common in District of Columbia, where it accounts for 0.40% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.