Margaret
Margaret is ranked 119th among girls in 2024 (2,303 births). Its best rank was 3rd, in 1891, 1894, 1905–1911.
- Rank in 2024
- #119up 13 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 2,3030.14% of girls
- Peak year
- 192128,468 births
- Best rank
- #3first in 1891
- Since 1880
- 1,266,052people given the name
The story in the numbers
1,262,307 girls have been named Margaret in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1921, with 28,468 births — 2.3% of all girls recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 169 → 119).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1934, and the 1920s alone account for 19%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 104 of them in the top 100 and 60 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 3,745 boys have also been given it, 0.30% of the total.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Margaret | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 21,799 | |
| 1890s | 37,937 | |
| 1900s | 57,919 | |
| 1910s | 189,234 | |
| 1920s | 245,010 | |
| 1930s | 157,371 | |
| 1940s | 173,025 | |
| 1950s | 149,583 | |
| 1960s | 81,869 | |
| 1970s | 31,946 | |
| 1980s | 30,352 | |
| 1990s | 31,293 | |
| 2000s | 23,915 | |
| 2010s | 20,034 | |
| 2020s | 11,020 |
In 1921, its biggest year
Margaret was the 4th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1921 were Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1921.
Names that rose and fell with Margaret
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Francespeak 1918
- Elvirapeak 1920
- Rowenapeak 1917
- Dollypeak 1926
- Harriettepeak 1917
- Berylpeak 1920
- Rosepeak 1917
- Louisepeak 1921
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.