How common is the name Margaret?

549,715 people in the United States have the first name Margaret, about 1 in 549. It ranks #76 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

MARGARET

#76

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
549,715
About
1 in 549
This common or more
26.3%
Who bears it

Of the 549,715 people named Margaret, 86% reported their origin as White, 6.4% as Black and 4% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Margaret peaked in 1921, when 28,521 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1921
Births that year
28,521
In 2025*
2,436 ▼91%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 1,268,519 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Margaret by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1900s, when it ranked #6. The largest share of babies named Margaret, 35.4%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#1721,894
1890s#738,060
1900s#658,137
1910s#8189,707
1920s#11245,709
1930s#19158,077
1940s#31173,518
1950s#51149,898
1960s#9882,130
1970s#18932,067
1980s#20130,512
1990s#22731,360
2000s#31023,931
2010s#36520,042
2020s#30413,477
Before 19015.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–2735.4%
Silent Generation 1928–4523.2%
Baby boom 1946–6421.9%
Generation X 1965–805.2%
Millennials 1981–963.9%
Generation Z 1997–123%
2013 and later2.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Margaret is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Margaret has been most common in Pennsylvania (1.9×), District of Columbia (1.8×), and Delaware (1.5×), and least common in Nevada (0.27×).

1,147,398 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Margaret

#74 Alexander · 556,757#75 Patrick · 551,884#77 Kathleen · 547,321#78 Nicole · 544,076

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Margaret, most common first.

#570 Margarita · 93,539#2,541 Margarito · 9,541#2,768 Margret · 8,420#5,772 Margarette · 2,884#7,051 Margarete · 2,201#7,118 Margarett · 2,168#9,715 Margareta · 1,415#10,490 Margeret · 1,268

Also a last name

As a last name, Margaret ranks #45,303 of 156,621, with 509 people. See Margaret as a last name

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