Margie
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly a diminutive of Margaret.
Name Census estimates that about 34,001 living Americans carry the first name Margie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Margie today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Margie births was 1925 (2,882 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Margie. 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
- • Although Margie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 403 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Margie is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Margies were born before 1965.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Margie have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
34K
~ 1 in 10,081 Americans
Peak year
1925
2,882 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1962 SSA rank
#3,201
Tracked since 1880
Census
Margie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 42,199 people with the first name Margie, which placed it at #1,013 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
#1,013
National first-name rank
People counted
42K
42,199 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Margie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margie is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Margie 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 Margie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.6% · 28,969
- Black or African American14.6% · 6,169
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 4,504
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 1,213
- Two or more races2.1% · 894
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 450
Gender
Gender distribution for Margie
Out of the 106,389 babies given the name Margie since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Margie as a male name
- Ranked #3,201 in 1962
- 8 male births in 1962
- Peak: 1931 (23 births)
Margie as a female name
- Ranked #6,531 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1925 (2,868 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Margie appears almost entirely female. Of the 42,196 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Margie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Margie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 25,606 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
Margie 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 Margie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Margies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the most babies named Margie, while Rhode Island, Hawaii, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,070 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Margie
Margie is a feminine given name derived from the French name Marguerite, which is the French form of the Greek name Margarites, meaning "pearl." This name has its roots in ancient Greece, where the term "margarites" referred to a pearl or a precious stone.
In the Middle Ages, the name Marguerite became popular across Europe, particularly in France and England. It was often associated with the Virgin Mary, as pearls were considered a symbol of purity and innocence. The name Margie emerged as a diminutive or nickname form of Marguerite.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Margie can be traced back to the 13th century. In the epic poem "The Lays of Marie de France," written around 1200 AD, one of the characters is named Margie. This suggests that the name was in use during that period, although its popularity may have been limited.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Margie. One of the most famous was Margie Hendricks (1888-1973), an American actress and vaudeville performer known for her work in films such as "The Sheik" (1921) and "The Kid Brother" (1927).
Another notable Margie was Margie Profet (1958-2005), an American evolutionary biologist and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of evolutionary medicine. Her work explored the role of natural selection in shaping human health and disease.
Margie Willett (1904-1993) was a Canadian figure skater who won the gold medal in pairs skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, along with her partner Frederic Tobin.
In the literary world, Margie Palatini (born 1950) is an American author and illustrator of children's books, known for works such as "Piggie Pie!" and "Moosestache."
Margie Hendrix (born 1939) is a former American singer and actress who had a successful career in the 1960s and 1970s, appearing on television shows like "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."
While the name Margie has been in use for centuries, it experienced a surge in popularity in the early to mid-20th century, particularly in the United States and other English-speaking countries. However, in recent decades, it has become less common as a given name for newborns.
People
Margie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Margie 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
Margie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Margie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 34,001 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Margie 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 10,081 US residents.
Is Margie a common name?
We classify Margie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 106,389 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Margie most popular?
The single biggest year for Margie was 1925, when 2,882 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Margie is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Margie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 42,199 people with the name Margie, or 13.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,013 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 Margie 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 Margie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Margie appears almost entirely female. Of the 42,196 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 Margie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margie is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (14.6%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Margie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Margie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.6% (28,969 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 Margie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Margie a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Margie 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 Margie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Margie 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 Margie 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 common is the name Margie?
See how many Americans are named Margie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.