Margaretta
Feminine · “pearl”
This name has more short forms than any other in English, and Margaretta is the longest thing you can do to it in the other direction. An Italian ending on a name that already had five endings across Europe, sitting on top of a word that came from the east by way of Greek.
How old is the name Margaretta?
Margaretta was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Margaretta alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 800 people named Margaretta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Margaretta most popular?
Margaretta peaked in 1884, reaching #541 nationally. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From margarites to Margaretta
The story of Margaretta
The number of forms this name produced is genuinely unusual. Europe has Marguerite, Margarita, Margarethe, Margareta, Margit, Marged and Malgorzata; English alone produced Maggie, Peggy, Meg, Madge, Daisy, Greta, Rita, May and Marjorie, several of which look nothing like the original. Adding an Italian ending to the Latin form, as Margaretta does, is the last available move in a name that had already been taken apart in every other direction. The record has it from the first year of the count.
Meaning
pearl
The Greek margarites means a pearl, and the word traveled west along the same routes as the pearls themselves. The Italian ending adds affection and no sense.
How the name formed
- margarites
- Margareta
- Margaretta
Related forms: Margherita · Margareta · Margarethe
Pronouncing Margaretta
mar-guh-RET-uh
Four syllables with the weight on the third. English compresses the middle in ordinary speech, giving three.
Nicknames for Margaretta
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 191859 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #541reached in 1884
- Change vs 1993
- −37.5%5 in 2007, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Margaretta in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Margherita in Italian — related form
- Margareta in Swedish — spelling variant
- Margarethe in German — related form
Margarettas among us
people named Margaretta are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Margaretta sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It carries the largest set of short forms of any name in English.
- The meaning is settled, concrete and easy to explain.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- Four syllables is long, and the name will be shortened by others immediately.
- Margaretta, Margareta and Margarita are near neighbors and will be confused.
- It reads unmistakably as a name of the nineteenth century.
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What they receive
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Margaretta
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Margarettas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Margaretta are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Margaretta in 2025?
- Margaretta is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Margaretta with classmates?
- Margaretta will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Margaretta? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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