Margy
A feminine diminutive of Margaret, meaning "pearl".
Name Census estimates that about 414 living Americans carry the first name Margy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Margy today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Margy births was 1929 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Margy. 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 Margy is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Margys were born before 1960.
People living today
414
~ 1 in 827,909 Americans
Peak year
1929
74 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1969 SSA rank
#7,131
Tracked since 1911
Census
Margy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 826 people with the first name Margy, which placed it at #14,291 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
#14,291
National first-name rank
People counted
826
826 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Margy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margy is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.0%) and Black (4.7%). 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 Margy 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 Margy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.4% · 664
- Hispanic or Latino10.0% · 83
- Black or African American4.7% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 26
- Two or more races1.2% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
Popularity
Margy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Margy from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 450 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
Margy 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 Margy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Margys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Ohio, Illinois recorded the most babies named Margy, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Margy
Margy is a feminine given name that has its roots in the ancient Greek language. It is a variant of the name Margaret, which derives from the Greek word "margarites" meaning "pearl." The name Margy gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions where Greek and Latin influences were strong, such as parts of Europe and the Byzantine Empire.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Margy can be traced back to the 5th century, when Saint Margarita of Antioch, a Christian martyr, was venerated. Her story and name gained widespread recognition, contributing to the name's dissemination across various cultures and regions.
In the 11th century, Princess Margarita of Hungary, also known as Margy, was a notable figure who helped spread the name's popularity. She was born in 1045 and was the daughter of King Béla I of Hungary and his wife, Rica.
During the Renaissance period, the name Margy gained further traction. One prominent figure was Margarita of Austria (1480-1530), who was the Queen of Spain and the wife of King Philip I of Castile.
In the 16th century, Margarita de la Cruz (1567-1633), a Spanish Franciscan nun and mystic, was known for her religious writings and spiritual guidance. Her name, Margarita, was often shortened to Margy.
Another notable individual was Marguerite de Valois (1553-1615), also known as Margy, who was the Queen of Navarre and the daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. She played a significant role in the French Wars of Religion and was a prominent figure in French history.
Throughout the centuries, the name Margy has been embraced by numerous cultures and communities, with variations in spelling and pronunciation emerging across different regions and languages. While its popularity may have fluctuated over time, it remains a beloved name with a rich historical heritage rooted in ancient Greek origins.
People
Margy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Margy 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
Margy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Margy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 414 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Margy 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 827,909 US residents.
Is Margy a common name?
We classify Margy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,525 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Margy most popular?
The single biggest year for Margy was 1929, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Margy is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Margy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 826 people with the name Margy, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,291 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 Margy 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 Margy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Margy appears almost entirely female. Of the 828 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Margy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margy is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.0%) and Black (4.7%). 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 Margy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Margy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.4% (664 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 Margy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Margy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Margy 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 Margy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Margy 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 Margy 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 Margy?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.