Magaret
Pearl or child of light, derived from the Greek word "margarites".
Name Census estimates that about 156 living Americans carry the first name Magaret. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Magaret today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Magaret births was 1915 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Magaret. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Magaret is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Magarets were born before 1970.
People living today
156
~ 1 in 2,197,143 Americans
Peak year
1915
18 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1987 SSA rank
#10,666
Tracked since 1907
Census
Magaret in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,005 people with the first name Magaret, which placed it at #12,396 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,396
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,005 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Magaret
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Magaret is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.6%) and Hispanic (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Magaret described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Magaret at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.1% · 765
- Black or African American13.6% · 137
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 53
- Two or more races2.3% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 6
Popularity
Magaret: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Magaret from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 97 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Magaret by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Magaret during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Magaret
The name Margaret has its roots in the Persian name Murvari, meaning "child of light" or "pearl." It was later adopted by the Greeks as Margarites, which translates to "pearl." This name made its way into Latin as Margarita and eventually evolved into the English form Margaret.
During the medieval period, the name Margaret gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England, France, and Germany. It was often associated with religious devotion and purity, as evidenced by its use in Christian texts and hagiographies. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Margaret can be found in the 8th century in the legend of Saint Margaret of Antioch, a virgin martyr who became a popular figure in the Catholic Church.
In the 12th century, the name Margaret was borne by Margaret of Navarre (1128-1194), Queen of England and wife of Henry II. She played a significant role in the political affairs of the time and was known for her patronage of the arts and literature. Another notable Margaret was Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482), the wife of Henry VI of England, who fought fiercely for her husband's claim to the throne during the Wars of the Roses.
During the Renaissance and Reformation periods, the name Margaret continued to be popular across Europe. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Margaret Tudor (1489-1541), the eldest daughter of Henry VII of England and wife of James IV of Scotland. She played a crucial role in the union of the Scottish and English crowns.
In the 16th century, Margaret of Navarre (1492-1549), also known as Marguerite de Navarre, was a prominent figure in the French Renaissance. She was a writer, poet, and patron of the arts, and her works were influential in promoting religious tolerance and humanism.
Another noteworthy Margaret was Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690), a French Roman Catholic nun who played a significant role in the development of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her visions and writings contributed to the widespread veneration of the Sacred Heart in the Catholic Church.
People
Magaret + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Magaret as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Magaret: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Magaret?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Magaret going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,197,143 US residents.
Is Magaret a common name?
We classify Magaret as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 458 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Magaret most popular?
The single biggest year for Magaret was 1915, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Magaret is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Magaret in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,005 people with the name Magaret, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,396 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Magaret in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Magaret?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Magaret appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,003 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Magaret?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Magaret is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.6%) and Hispanic (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Magaret most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Magaret in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.1% (765 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Magaret in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Magaret a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Magaret in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Magaret still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Magaret in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Magaret can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Magaret?
See how many Americans are named Magaret on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.