In 2025, 2,436 US girls were named Margaret, making it the 112th most common girls’ name of the year, up 7 places from #119 in 2024. That is 120 more than the 2,316 girls named Margaret in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #3, reached in 1911. The most girls given the name in a single year was 28,468, in 1921. For comparison, it was #155 in 2015 and #15 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Margaret in every one of the 146 years from 1880 to 2025; in 1880 there were 1,578 babies with the name. In all, 1,268,519 US babies have been given the name, 99.7% of them girls and 0.3% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1920s, with 245,709 babies named Margaret.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 22,497 US girls were named Margaret; the busiest of those years was 2025, with 2,436. In 2025 that was about 1 in 660 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Margaret ranked highest in District of Columbia in 2025, at #22 for girls there. It was in the top 100 in 25 states (counting DC). Related spellings in the SSA files include Maggie (123,360 babies since 1880), Marguerite (94,123 babies since 1880), Margarita (40,418 babies since 1880) and Margo (27,242 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Margarite, Mairead and Margherita are summarised on this page. The open nickname list we use links it to Daisy, Gretta, Madge, Maggie, Maggy and Marge.