Margeret
Feminine · “a pearl”
Margeret was already in the record when American record-keeping began, which makes this spelling older than several of the ones now considered standard. It transposes two letters in the syllable nobody stresses — and it was doing so before anybody had decided what the standard was.
How old is the name Margeret?
Margeret was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Margeret alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 300 people named Margeret are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Margeret most popular?
Margeret peaked in 1880, reaching #628 nationally. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Greek word for a pearl to Margeret
Our story of Margeret
It is easy to assume that a standard spelling is the original and everything else is a departure from it. For names, that is almost never true. Spelling was individual until printing and remained loose for names long afterwards, because a name belongs to a family rather than to a dictionary and no printer was setting your daughter's certificate. What the record shows in its earliest years is not a standard with variants around it; it is a spread of spellings, one of which was later declared correct by nobody in particular.
Meaning
a pearl
The name reached Europe from a Greek word for a pearl and probably before that from Persian. Its English spellings have never been fully settled: Margaret, Margarete, Margery, Marjorie and this version have all been in use, and the middle syllable — unstressed, reduced, barely audible — is where they differ. Standardization came late to names and has never quite finished.
How the name formed
- a Greek word for a pearl
- Margaret spreads across Europe with a saint's cult
- English spellings multiply and do not settle
- Margeret is in the American record from the beginning
- the standard spelling is fixed only by usage
Related forms: Margaret · Margarete · Marguerite
Pronouncing Margeret
MAR-gruht
Two or three syllables depending on how carefully anybody is speaking. The transposed letters sit in the syllable that disappears.
Nicknames for Margeret
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
- 192030 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #628reached in 1880
- Change vs 1995
- +20.0%6 in 2003, from 5
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.
Margeret in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Margaret in English — spelling variant
- Margarete in German — same name
- Marguerite in French — same name
Margerets among us
people named Margeret 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
Margeret 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
- The name behind it is one of the most established in Europe.
- Maggie, Greta, Peggy and Daisy are all available, which is an unusual range.
- The spelling is genuinely rare while the name is universal.
- Margaret is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected everywhere.
- Most readers will treat the transposition as an error rather than an old variant.
- It belongs to the oldest layer of the record.
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Margeret
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Margerets are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Margeret are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Margeret in 2025?
- Margeret is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Margeret with classmates?
- Margeret 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 Margeret? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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