Peggie
A feminine diminutive form of the name Margaret, itself derived from the Greek "margaron" meaning pearl.
Name Census estimates that about 3,102 living Americans carry the first name Peggie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Peggie today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Peggie births was 1948 (258 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Peggie. 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 Peggie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Peggie is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Peggies were born before 1963.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 110,495 Americans
Peak year
1948
258 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
2001 SSA rank
#14,870
Tracked since 1886
Census
Peggie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,080 people with the first name Peggie, which placed it at #5,536 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
#5,536
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,080 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Peggie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Peggie is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Black (27.6%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Peggie 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 Peggie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.9% · 1,999
- Black or African American27.6% · 850
- Two or more races2.5% · 78
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 69
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 63
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 21
Popularity
Peggie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Peggie from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 2,115 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Peggie 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 Peggie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Peggies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. North Carolina, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Peggie, while Oregon, New Jersey, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 163 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Peggie
The given name Peggie is a feminine form of the name Peg, which itself is a pet form or diminutive of the name Margaret. Margaret is derived from the Greek name Margarites, meaning "pearl." The name has its roots in ancient Greece and gradually spread across Europe through the influence of Christianity.
In the Middle Ages, the name Margaret became popular across various parts of Europe, particularly in regions with a strong Christian tradition. It was a common name among nobility and royalty, with several notable figures bearing this name, including Margaret of Anjou, the Queen of England in the 15th century.
The diminutive form Peg, and its variant spelling Peggie, emerged as a nickname or affectionate form of Margaret during the late medieval and early modern periods. These shortened versions were commonly used in everyday speech and informal settings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Peggie can be found in the writings of the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. In his play "King Lear," written around 1606, one of the characters is referred to as "Peggie."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Peggie. One such example is Peggie Guggenheim (1898-1979), an American art collector and patron of the arts, who played a significant role in promoting modern art in the 20th century.
Another prominent figure with the name Peggie was Peggie Castle (1927-1973), an American actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows during the 1950s and 1960s.
Peggie Fenwick (1933-2018) was a British artist and potter known for her innovative ceramic sculptures and her contributions to the studio pottery movement in the United Kingdom.
In the literary world, Peggie Woodburn (1923-2004) was a Scottish novelist and short story writer who authored several works exploring themes of family life and relationships.
Peggie Miller (1915-1984) was an American singer and actress who performed in Broadway musicals and films during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
The name Peggie, while not as commonly used today as its longer form Margaret, has a rich history and has been borne by notable figures across various fields, including the arts, literature, and entertainment.
People
Peggie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Peggie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Peggie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Peggie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,102 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Peggie 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 110,495 US residents.
Is Peggie a common name?
We classify Peggie as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,355 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Peggie most popular?
The single biggest year for Peggie was 1948, when 258 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Peggie is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Peggie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,080 people with the name Peggie, or 1.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,536 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 Peggie 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 Peggie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Peggie appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,084 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 Peggie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Peggie is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Black (27.6%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Peggie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Peggie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (1,999 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 Peggie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Peggie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Peggie 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 Peggie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Peggie 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 Peggie 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 Americans are named Peggie?
See how many Americans are named Peggie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.