Head to head · Girls' names
Margaret vs Margot
#112 vs #102 in 2025
Margot is a whisker ahead (#102 vs #112 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Margot 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: Margaret and Margot 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: Margaret #5, Margot — — Margaret higher
- 1890s: Margaret #4, Margot #1487 — Margaret higher
- 1900s: Margaret #4, Margot #1439 — Margaret higher
- 1910s: Margaret #4, Margot #1195 — Margaret higher
- 1920s: Margaret #5, Margot #1128 — Margaret higher
- 1930s: Margaret #8, Margot #646 — Margaret higher
- 1940s: Margaret #14, Margot #721 — Margaret higher
- 1950s: Margaret #24, Margot #921 — Margaret higher
- 1960s: Margaret #52, Margot #970 — Margaret higher
- 1970s: Margaret #98, Margot #1644 — Margaret higher
- 1980s: Margaret #95, Margot #1351 — Margaret higher
- 1990s: Margaret #106, Margot #1615 — Margaret higher
- 2000s: Margaret #147, Margot #1723 — Margaret higher
- 2010s: Margaret #157, Margot #753 — Margaret higher
- 2020s: Margaret #124, Margot #166 — Margaret higher
Margaret stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Margaret | Margot |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #5 | — |
| 1890s | #4 | #1487 |
| 1900s | #4 | #1439 |
| 1910s | #4 | #1195 |
| 1920s | #5 | #1128 |
| 1930s | #8 | #646 |
| 1940s | #14 | #721 |
| 1950s | #24 | #921 |
| 1960s | #52 | #970 |
| 1970s | #98 | #1644 |
| 1980s | #95 | #1351 |
| 1990s | #106 | #1615 |
| 2000s | #147 | #1723 |
| 2010s | #157 | #753 |
| 2020s | #124 | #166 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Margaret
Not charting outside the US.
Margot
- England & Wales#28
- France#46
- Canada#68
- Scotland#79
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Margot
pearl
The pearl sense comes through Marguerite from Latin margarita and Greek margarites. In French, marguerite is also the word for a daisy, so the flower travels alongside the name.
Margarites → Margarita → Marguerite → Margot
How it traveled
The root is the Greek margarites, pearl, which passed into Latin as margarita and into medieval French as Marguerite — a name spread widely across Europe by the cult of Saint Margaret. Margot arose as its clipped familiar form in French and stuck there for centuries: Marguerite de Valois, the sixteenth-century queen of Navarre, was known as la reine Margot, and Dumas used exactly that title for his novel in 1845.
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
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.
Margot
MAR-go
The final t is silent, following the French. A hard-t reading (MAR-got) turns up occasionally in English and is worth deciding on early, since the spelling invites both.
- Margo — The same name without the French t; used as a full given name in its own right as often as a simplification.
- Mags — Informal, borrowed from the Margaret side of the family; playground and family use rather than paperwork.
- Mo — Very informal, one syllable, mostly within families.
- Margie — An older short form more associated with Margaret and Marjorie, occasionally used here too.
Who has carried each name
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
Margot
Margot Robbie (b. 1990) — Barbie herself — and an Oscar-nominated producer
Margot Fonteyn (b. 1919) — Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet
Margot Frank (b. 1926) — Anne Frank's older sister
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 Margaret if you want…
- a name fewer children share#112 in 2025 — margaret will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name holding steadyMargaret is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itMargaret runs 3 syllables, Margot 2
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Maggie, Peggy and Meg
Choose Margot if you want…
- a name most people already know#102 in 2025, 2,575 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 132 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesMargot is 2 syllables to Margaret's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooMargot is on the national lists of England & Wales, France, Canada and Scotland
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
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.
Margot
Strengths
- Two syllables, stress on the first, and no cluster of consonants to trip over when said aloud.
- Already a short form, so it needs no nickname to work in daily life.
- Belongs to one of Europe's largest name families — Marguerite, Margaret, Margherita, Margarita all connect back to it.
To consider
- The silent t means a lifetime of small corrections: Margot, Margo and Margaux all sound the same, and people will guess wrong in both directions.
- The name is climbing quickly, so a child born now may meet more Margots than today's numbers suggest — the classroom picture tends to lag the trend by a few years.
- In recent memory the name is strongly attached to one very visible actor, which can mean an association-by-reflex for a while. Fame moves on; the name predates it by centuries.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
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.
Margot
59%chance Margot feels dated by 2040
Margot 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.
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 Margaret and Margot 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 Margaret and Margot?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Margaret and Margot — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Margaret or Margot — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Margaret or Margot?
- Margot, in 2025: Margot ranked #102 with 2,575 babies; Margaret ranked #112 with 2,436 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Margaret or Margot?
- Margot. Over the last five years Margaret moved up 14 places; Margot moved up 132 places.
- Which is the older name, Margaret or Margot?
- Margaret was already in use when US records began in 1880; Margot entered the US charts in 1894. On the American record, Margaret is the older name.
- How many people are named Margaret and Margot?
- About 504,000 people named Margaret are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 23,000 people named Margot are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Margarets or Margots in the classroom?
- Margaret will almost certainly be the only one in school. Margot 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
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