Marjory
Feminine · “Greek "pearl”
Margery Kempe dictated the first autobiography written in English, around 1436, and she could not read or write. Her book was lost for five hundred years and found in a country house in 1934 — which makes the name attached to it one of the more remarkable in English letters.
How old is the name Marjory?
Marjory first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Marjory alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 2,400 people named Marjory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Marjory most popular?
Marjory peaked in 1922, reaching #383 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 7,108 places below that high. See the whole 1922 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From margarites to Marjory
The story of Marjory
The Book of Margery Kempe was written down between 1436 and 1438 by scribes to whom she dictated it, since she was illiterate; it describes her visions, her pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago, her fifteen years of negotiating a chaste marriage, and her frequent public weeping. It is the earliest surviving autobiography in English. The only manuscript disappeared after the Reformation and was rediscovered in a private library in 1934, which is why the book entered the literary canon only in the twentieth century. Margery was one of the commonest English women's names of her period; the modern spelling Marjory peaks in America in 1922.
Meaning
Greek "pearl", by way of Margaret
From Margaret, from Greek margarites, a pearl. Margery is the medieval English form, and Marjory and Marjorie are later spellings. The j and the -ory ending come from the influence of the herb marjoram, which is a separate word of obscure origin — a folk-etymological respelling that reshaped the name's look without changing its source.
How the name formed
- margarites
- Margaret
- Margery
- Marjory
Related forms: Marjorie · Margery · Marsaili
Pronouncing Marjory
MAR-juh-ree
Three syllables, stress on the first, with a soft j. Marjory and Marjorie are pronounced identically; the -y and -ie spellings differ only on the page.
Nicknames for Marjory
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
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 1921294 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #383reached in 1922
- Change vs 2022
- +133.3%14 in 2025, from 6
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.
Marjory in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Marjorie in English — spelling variant
- Margery in English — spelling variant
- Marsaili in Scottish — related form
Marjorys among us
people named Marjory are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Marjory
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Hortense test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Marjory's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hortense climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hortense's path sketches the road Marjory is walking now.
Marjory sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Marjory beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Marjory in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and travels back through Margaret to a pearl.
- Marge and Margie are long-established short forms.
- It has a documented medieval English history.
- Marjorie is the more common spelling and will be substituted.
- The 1920s peak dates a bearer strongly.
- The j spelling comes from confusion with a herb, not from the name's source.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Marjory to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Marjory? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Marjory
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Marjorys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Marjory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Marjory in 2025?
- Marjory ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Marjory?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Marjory — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Marjory with classmates?
- Marjory will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Marjory
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Marjory? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Marjory and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle