Margarita
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pearl".
Name Census estimates that about 28,009 living Americans carry the first name Margarita. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Margarita today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Margarita births was 1957 (600 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Margarita. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Margarita with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Margarita is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 199 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
28K
~ 1 in 12,237 Americans
Peak year
1957
600 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1993 SSA rank
#1,808
Tracked since 1880
Census
Margarita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 93,536 people with the first name Margarita, which placed it at #570 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
#570
National first-name rank
People counted
94K
93,536 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
31.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Margarita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margarita is Hispanic at 90.4%. The next largest groups are White (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.0%). 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 Margarita 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 Margarita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.4% · 84,596
- White6.7% · 6,264
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 1,829
- Black or African American0.6% · 518
- Two or more races0.2% · 173
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 156
Gender
Gender distribution for Margarita
Out of the 40,316 babies given the name Margarita since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Margarita as a male name
- Ranked #8,292 in 1993
- 6 male births in 1993
- Peak: 1990 (12 births)
Margarita as a female name
- Ranked #1,808 in 2024
- 111 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (594 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Margarita appears almost entirely female. Of the 93,539 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Margarita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Margarita from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 5,470 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Margarita 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 Margarita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Margaritas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Margarita, while Utah, Louisiana, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,043 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Margarita
The given name Margarita has its origins in the Greek language and translates to "pearl" or "precious jewel". It likely emerged during the Byzantine era in the Medieval period when Greek culture and language had a significant influence across the Mediterranean region.
Margarita was a popular name among early Christians, as pearls were seen as a symbol of purity and spiritual wealth in the Bible. The name appears in some early religious texts and Biblical commentaries from the 4th and 5th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Margarita dates back to the 6th century AD, referring to Saint Margarita of Antioch. She was a semi-legendary virgin martyr who was allegedly executed for her Christian faith during the 3rd century in the Roman province of Syria.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Margarita gained popularity across Europe, particularly in regions with Greek cultural influences, such as Italy, Spain, and parts of Southern France. Notable historical figures include Margarita de Navarra (1492-1549), a prominent Renaissance writer and patron of the arts, and Margarita Teresa de España y Austria (1651-1673), a Spanish princess and daughter of King Philip IV.
In the 16th century, Margarita became a fashionable name among the English nobility, likely due to the influence of the Spanish House of Habsburg. One of the most famous bearers was Queen Margarita de Valois (1553-1615), the wife of Henry IV of France.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the name Margarita maintained its popularity across Europe, with notable figures such as Margarita Maria Alacoque (1647-1690), a French Roman Catholic Visitation nun, and Margarita Wallmoden (1704-1765), a German countess and mistress of King George II of Great Britain.
In the 19th century, the name Margarita gained popularity in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, where it became a common name. One famous bearer was Margarita Maza de Juárez (1825-1928), the wife of Mexican President Benito Juárez.
People
Margarita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Margarita 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
Margarita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Margarita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28,009 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Margarita 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 12,237 US residents.
Is Margarita a common name?
We classify Margarita as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40,316 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Margarita most popular?
The single biggest year for Margarita was 1957, when 600 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Margarita is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Margarita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 93,536 people with the name Margarita, or 30.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #570 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 Margarita 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 Margarita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Margarita appears almost entirely female. Of the 93,539 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Margarita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margarita is Hispanic at 90.4%. The next largest groups are White (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.0%). 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 Margarita most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Margarita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.4% (84,596 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 Margarita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Margarita a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Margarita 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 Margarita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Margarita 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 Margarita 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 Margarita?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.