Head to head · Girls' names
Cora vs Margaret
#113 vs #112 in 2025
Margaret is a whisker ahead (#112 vs #113 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Margaret is holding its place on the charts, Cora is stepping back from its peak.
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
On the charts, Margaret leads 5 measures of 6; Cora leads 0.
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: Cora #24, Margaret #5 — Margaret higher
- 1890s: Cora #46, Margaret #4 — Margaret higher
- 1900s: Cora #71, Margaret #4 — Margaret higher
- 1910s: Cora #109, Margaret #4 — Margaret higher
- 1920s: Cora #150, Margaret #5 — Margaret higher
- 1930s: Cora #171, Margaret #8 — Margaret higher
- 1940s: Cora #232, Margaret #14 — Margaret higher
- 1950s: Cora #363, Margaret #24 — Margaret higher
- 1960s: Cora #540, Margaret #52 — Margaret higher
- 1970s: Cora #720, Margaret #98 — Margaret higher
- 1980s: Cora #774, Margaret #95 — Margaret higher
- 1990s: Cora #688, Margaret #106 — Margaret higher
- 2000s: Cora #409, Margaret #147 — Margaret higher
- 2010s: Cora #127, Margaret #157 — Cora higher
- 2020s: Cora #93, Margaret #124 — Cora higher
Margaret stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Cora has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Cora | Margaret |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #24 | #5 |
| 1890s | #46 | #4 |
| 1900s | #71 | #4 |
| 1910s | #109 | #4 |
| 1920s | #150 | #5 |
| 1930s | #171 | #8 |
| 1940s | #232 | #14 |
| 1950s | #363 | #24 |
| 1960s | #540 | #52 |
| 1970s | #720 | #98 |
| 1980s | #774 | #95 |
| 1990s | #688 | #106 |
| 2000s | #409 | #147 |
| 2010s | #127 | #157 |
| 2020s | #93 | #124 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Cora
- Scotland#77
Margaret
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Cora
maiden, young woman
From Greek korē. The same word was used as an epithet of Persephone. Cora also does double duty in English as a short form of longer names — Cordelia, Cornelia, Coraline, Coral — so some families arrive at it from that direction instead.
Korē → Cora
How it traveled
The root is the Greek korē, "maiden" or "girl", a word that also served as a title for Persephone in her role as daughter. Latinized to Cora, it sat mostly in classical texts until the eighteenth century, when English writers began using it as a given name.
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
Cora
KOR-uh
Stress on the first syllable. English speakers reach it on the first try; the main confusion is spelling rather than sound, since Kora is used in German and Polish.
- Coco — Informal, used within families and among friends; also stands alone as a given name for some.
- Cori — Informal spoken short form; also an independent given name in its own right.
- Corrie — Informal, more common in older generations and in British usage.
- Cor — Clipped and affectionate, mostly household use.
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
Cora
No documented entry for Cora yet.
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 Cora if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsCora is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesCora is 2 syllables to Margaret's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooCora is on the national lists of Scotland
Choose Margaret if you want…
- a name on the way upup 14 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMargaret runs 3 syllables, Cora 2
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Maggie, Peggy and Meg
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
Cora
Strengths
- Two syllables, five letters, and pronounced as it looks for most English speakers — little correcting required.
- A documented line back to ancient Greek, with unbroken use in American records since they began.
- Works as a full name or as the short form of Cordelia, Cornelia, Coraline and Coral, which gives a family options either way.
To consider
- It sits in a dense field of near-rhymes: Nora, Dora, Aurora, Laura, Coraline. Expect the occasional mix-up, and think about how it sits next to siblings' names.
- Kora is the standard spelling in several European languages, so the C is worth spelling out when it matters.
- Most people currently carrying the name in the US are of grandparent or great-grandparent age, so some listeners will hear it as an older family name — which is exactly why others are drawn to it.
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.
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 Cora 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 Cora 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 Cora and Margaret — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Cora or Margaret — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Cora or Margaret?
- Margaret, in 2025: Margaret ranked #112 with 2,436 babies; Cora ranked #113 with 2,428 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Cora or Margaret?
- Margaret. Over the last five years Cora moved down 25 places; Margaret moved up 14 places.
- Which is the older name, Cora or Margaret?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Cora and Margaret?
- About 76,500 people named Cora 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 Coras or Margarets in the classroom?
- Cora 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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 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 Cora, Margaret and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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