Meggie
A diminutive of the feminine names Margaret or Megan.
Name Census estimates that about 493 living Americans carry the first name Meggie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meggie today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meggie births was 1985 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meggie. 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 Meggie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
493
~ 1 in 695,242 Americans
Peak year
1985
47 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2015 SSA rank
#18,233
Tracked since 1980
Census
Meggie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 664 people with the first name Meggie, which placed it at #16,834 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
#16,834
National first-name rank
People counted
664
664 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meggie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meggie is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.4%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Meggie 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 Meggie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 446
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.4% · 122
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 53
- Black or African American4.8% · 32
- Two or more races1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Popularity
Meggie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meggie from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 247 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meggie 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 Meggie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meggies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois recorded the most babies named Meggie, while Texas, Illinois, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meggie
The given name Meggie is a diminutive form of the name Margaret, derived from the Old French name Marguerite, which in turn comes from the Greek name Margarites, meaning "pearl". The name Margaret was initially adopted by Christians as a reference to the Virgin Mary, who was seen as the "pearl of virtues".
The name Meggie traces its roots back to ancient Greece, where the word "margarites" was used to describe a pearl or a precious stone. This association with pearls and gems contributed to the name's association with purity, beauty, and value. Over time, the name spread across Europe, taking on various forms and spellings, such as Margarita, Margherita, and Margot.
In the Middle Ages, the name Margaret became popular in Europe, particularly in regions influenced by the Christian faith. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the "Golden Legend", a 13th-century collection of hagiographies (biographies of saints) written by Jacobus de Voragine. The Golden Legend contains the story of Saint Margaret of Antioch, a virgin martyr who was tortured and executed for her Christian faith in the 3rd century.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Meggie or its variants. One of the most famous was Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482), the wife of King Henry VI of England, who played a prominent role in the Wars of the Roses. Another significant figure was Margaret of Valois (1553-1615), the Queen of France and Navarre, known for her cultural patronage and her involvement in the French Wars of Religion.
In the literary world, the name Meggie is associated with Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), the American author who wrote the iconic novel "Gone with the Wind". Another notable literary figure was Margaret Atwood (born 1939), the acclaimed Canadian poet and novelist known for works such as "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Blind Assassin".
Beyond literature, the name Meggie has been borne by various influential women throughout history, including Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Margaret Mead (1901-1978), the renowned American cultural anthropologist.
While the name Meggie may have evolved from its ancient Greek origins, it has maintained a sense of purity, beauty, and strength throughout its long history. The name's enduring popularity serves as a testament to its timeless appeal and the significant role it has played in various cultures and contexts.
People
Meggie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meggie 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
Meggie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meggie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 493 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meggie 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 695,242 US residents.
Is Meggie a common name?
We classify Meggie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 514 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meggie most popular?
The single biggest year for Meggie was 1985, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meggie is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meggie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 664 people with the name Meggie, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,834 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 Meggie 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 Meggie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meggie appears almost entirely female. Of the 661 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Meggie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meggie is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (18.4%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Meggie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meggie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (446 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 Meggie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meggie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meggie 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 Meggie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meggie 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 Meggie 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 Meggie as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.