Head to head · Girls' names
Catalina vs Margaret
#111 vs #112 in 2025
Catalina is a whisker ahead (#111 vs #112 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Catalina is climbing the charts fast, Margaret is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Catalina and Margaret each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Catalina —, Margaret #5 — Margaret higher
- 1890s: Catalina #1332, Margaret #4 — Margaret higher
- 1900s: Catalina #1470, Margaret #4 — Margaret higher
- 1910s: Catalina #1290, Margaret #4 — Margaret higher
- 1920s: Catalina #815, Margaret #5 — Margaret higher
- 1930s: Catalina #913, Margaret #8 — Margaret higher
- 1940s: Catalina #1289, Margaret #14 — Margaret higher
- 1950s: Catalina #1375, Margaret #24 — Margaret higher
- 1960s: Catalina #1350, Margaret #52 — Margaret higher
- 1970s: Catalina #1183, Margaret #98 — Margaret higher
- 1980s: Catalina #1131, Margaret #95 — Margaret higher
- 1990s: Catalina #892, Margaret #106 — Margaret higher
- 2000s: Catalina #721, Margaret #147 — Margaret higher
- 2010s: Catalina #390, Margaret #157 — Margaret higher
- 2020s: Catalina #147, Margaret #124 — Margaret higher
Margaret stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Catalina | Margaret |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #5 |
| 1890s | #1332 | #4 |
| 1900s | #1470 | #4 |
| 1910s | #1290 | #4 |
| 1920s | #815 | #5 |
| 1930s | #913 | #8 |
| 1940s | #1289 | #14 |
| 1950s | #1375 | #24 |
| 1960s | #1350 | #52 |
| 1970s | #1183 | #98 |
| 1980s | #1131 | #95 |
| 1990s | #892 | #106 |
| 2000s | #721 | #147 |
| 2010s | #390 | #157 |
| 2020s | #147 | #124 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Catalina
Traditionally read as "pure", though the original meaning is genuinely unresolved
The Greek original, Aikaterine, has no agreed source. The "pure" reading comes from Greek katharos and attached itself later, when the Latin spelling was reshaped as Katharina under Christian influence; older scholarship has also tried to connect it to the goddess Hecate. Both readings are serious, and neither has won.
Aikaterine → Catharina → Catalina
How it traveled
The line begins with the Greek Aikaterine, borne by Saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose cult spread across medieval Europe and pulled the name into almost every language it touched. In Latin it became Catharina; in Castilian Spanish it settled as Catalina, and stayed there — Catalina de Aragón, the Spanish princess who became Henry VIII's first queen, is the form's most famous medieval bearer.
Margaret
pearl
The Greek margarites, a pearl, which the language took from further east along the trade routes that brought the pearls themselves.
margarites → Margarita → Margaret
How it traveled
Scotland is where the name became royal. Margaret arrived there as an Anglo-Saxon princess raised in Hungarian exile, married Malcolm the Third, and spent her life reorganising the court and the Scottish church around her; she was canonized, her descendants ruled for centuries, and every Scottish family with any pretension named daughters after her.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Catalina
kah-tah-LEE-nah
That is the Spanish reading. In English-dominant settings it usually flattens to kat-uh-LEE-nuh. Both are widely heard in the US, and either is correct — worth deciding early which one you will offer when introducing her.
- Cata — The standard informal short form in Spanish-speaking families; rarely used as a full given name on its own.
- Lina — Taken from the end of the name; also exists independently as a given name in several languages.
- Cati — Informal, common in Spain and Latin America, sometimes written Katy in English-speaking settings.
- Cat — An English-language shortening, informal and usually school-age or later.
- Also Katie, Talina.
Margaret
MAR-gruht
Three syllables written, two or three said depending on the speaker; most English speakers compress the middle. French gives four, mar-guh-REET, and Spanish four as well.
- Maggie — The most common everyday form in Britain and America alike; it stands alone as a given name.
- Peggy — An older form arrived at by rhyme rather than by cutting, which is why it looks unrelated.
- Meg — The short cut from the front; a standing name of its own.
- Madge — An older informal form, now mostly carried by women of an earlier generation.
- Also Greta, Rita.
Who has carried each name
Catalina
Catalina Sandino Moreno (b. 1981) — Oscar-nominated for Maria Full of Grace
Margaret
Margaret Thatcher (b. 1925) — Britain's first female prime minister, the "Iron Lady"
Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) — Wrote The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Mitchell (b. 1900) — Wrote Gone with the Wind
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Catalina if you want…
- a name on the way upup 68 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itCatalina runs 4 syllables, Margaret 3
- a newer arrivalCatalina entered the US charts in 1893
- a name that feels very nowCatalina is climbing the charts fast
Choose Margaret if you want…
- a name holding steadyMargaret is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesMargaret is 3 syllables to Catalina's 4
- a long American recordMargaret was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 55% for Catalina
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Catalina
Strengths
- An unbroken record from the early Christian centuries to now, in Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian and English forms.
- Reads correctly in both English and Spanish without respelling, and has a direct equivalent in most European languages.
- Several established short forms already in real use — Cata, Cati, Lina, Cat — so nothing has to be invented.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate side by side in the US, the Spanish kah-tah-LEE-nah and the anglicized kat-uh-LEE-nuh. She will hear both, and will likely spend her life choosing which to correct.
- The K spelling, Katalina, exists and will be guessed at times, as will Catalena. Not constant trouble, but expect to spell it aloud.
- It is climbing steadily rather than sitting still, so it is likely to feel more common by the time she reaches school than it does tonight.
Margaret
Strengths
- It has a form in essentially every European language, so it travels anywhere without translation.
- It carries more established short forms than any other English name, in every register from formal to affectionate.
- The meaning is settled, concrete and pleasant, and easy to explain to a child.
To consider
- Several very famous women share it, and each generation attaches to a different one.
- The short forms are so unlike the name that a child may end up called something a stranger would never connect to it.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Catalina
55%chance Catalina feels dated by 2040
Catalina is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Margaret
12%chance Margaret feels dated by 2040
Margaret has held the top-100 across 11 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Catalina and Margaret in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Catalina and Margaret?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Catalina and Margaret — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Catalina or Margaret — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Catalina or Margaret?
- Catalina, in 2025: Catalina ranked #111 with 2,456 babies; Margaret ranked #112 with 2,436 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Catalina or Margaret?
- Catalina. Over the last five years Catalina moved up 68 places; Margaret moved up 14 places.
- Which is the older name, Catalina or Margaret?
- Catalina entered the US charts in 1893; Margaret was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Margaret is the older name.
- How many people are named Catalina and Margaret?
- About 31,000 people named Catalina are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 504,000 people named Margaret are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Catalinas or Margarets in the classroom?
- Catalina will almost certainly be the only one in school. Margaret will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Catalina, Margaret and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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