BabyNameScoreName profile
Margaret
feminine
This reflects the first name on its own. The full-name report scores the complete combination separately.
Check it with a full name ↓Entered Middle English (c. 1300) from Old French Margaret/Marguerite, from Late Latin Margarita, from Greek μαργαρίτης (margarites, "pearl"). The Greek-to-English chain is well established; the pre-Greek origin of the Greek word itself is a genuinely disputed question in historical linguistics.
Why it works
- English speakers will almost certainly pronounce it correctly on the first try
Popularity
Familiar — #112 in the latest U.S. ranking.
Meaning and origin
Margaret means "Pearl" — solid via the direct Greek-to-English chain; the deeper prehistory of the Greek word (why Greek called a pearl margarites in the first place) is disputed among historical linguists.
A name carrying centuries of association with European nobility, sainthood, and 20th-century political and literary power; still read as classic and dignified rather than trendy.
Documented origin: Entered Middle English (c. 1300) from Old French Margaret/Marguerite, from Late Latin Margarita, from Greek μαργαρίτης (margarites, "pearl"). The Greek-to-English chain is well established; the pre-Greek origin of the Greek word itself is a genuinely disputed question in historical linguistics.
How it travels
English and Turkish are shown by default; German is included when it adds a meaningfully different reading.
Spelling stability: high — based on letter-pattern analysis, not a documented linguistic fact.
Also documented
/ˈmɑːrɡrɪt/ (common reduced two-syllable US pronunciation, middle vowel elided)
British English: /ˈmɑːɡrɪt/ (British English, often further reduced)
/ˈmɑːrɡəˌrɛt/ (careful three-syllable spelling-pronunciation, less common in casual speech)
Popularity without panic
Familiar — #112 in the latest U.S. ranking.
Familiar enough to feel established, distinctive enough to stand out.
Full-name check
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Real-world considerations
- Familiar — #112 in the latest U.S. ranking.
- Spelling note: Confusion with the historically related but distinct spellings Margret, Marguerite, Margarethe, and Margarita, all cognates rather than misspellings of English 'Margaret.'.
- The chain from Greek margarites through Latin and French into English 'Margaret' meaning 'pearl' is not in dispute. What IS genuinely unresolved is where Greek got the word margarites from before that — the OED and Beekes both flag it as a probable loanword from an Iranian or other 'Oriental' language, and an older Sanskrit-derived theory is treated skeptically by modern etymologists. No source claims certainty here; 'pearl' is a safe surface meaning, but its ultimate linguistic ancestry beyond Greek should not be presented as settled.
Explore alternatives
Documented as a related name or variant form.
Documented as a related name or variant form.
Documented as a related name or variant form.