Margaret

Margaret the Virgin is one of many saints named Margaret
Pronunciation	English: /ˈmɑːrɡərət/
Gender	Female
Name day	23 May or 25 January
Origin
Language(s)	Latin, Greek and Iranian
Meaning	Pearl
Other names
Related names	Maggie, Máiréad, Madge, Marguerite, Margarita, Margareta, Margaretta, Margarida, Margarete, Marge, Margherita, Margo, Margot, Margie, Daisy, Margit, Meg, Megan, Mette, Maisie, Małgorzata, Rita, Gretchen, Gretel, Grethe, Greta, Peggy

Margaret is a feminine given name, meaning "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Old Iranian.^[1] It has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became less popular between the 16th and 18th century, but became more common again after this period, becoming the second-most popular female name in the United States in 1903. Since this time, it has become less common, but was still the ninth-most common name for women of all ages in the United States as of the 1990 census.

Margaret has many diminutive forms in many languages, including Maggie, Madge, Margarete, Marge, Margo, Margie, Marjorie, Marnie, Meg, Megan, Rita, Greta, Gretchen, Daisy, and Peggy.^[2]

Etymology

Margaret is derived via French (Marguerite) and Latin (Margarita) from Ancient Greek: μαργαρίτης (margarítēs), via Persian murwārīd, meaning "pearl".^[3][4][5] Margarita (given name) traces the etymology further as مروارید, morvārīd in modern Persian, derived from Sogdian marγārt, both meaning 'pearl'. It is ultimately traces its roots to Old Iranian -mr‌gāhrīta*, "derived from a shell".^[1]

Name variants

Nobility

Religion

• Margaret (the Lame) of Magdeburg (ca. 1210-1250), an anchoress of the St. Albans Church in Magdeburg, present-day Germany
• Margaret Brennan (1831–1887), Canadian nun
• Margaret B. Denning (1856-1935), American missionary and temperance worker
• Margaret Sampson (1906–1988), English nun

Arts and music

• Maggie Smith (born 1934), British actress
• Maisie Williams (born 1997), English actress.
• Margaret Uyauperq Aniksak (1907–1993), Inuit sculptor
• Margaret Ashmore Sudduth (1859–1957), American educator, editor, temperance advocate
• Margaret Atwood (born 1939), Canadian novelist and poet
• Margaret Avison (1918–2007), Canadian poet
• Margaret Barnard (1898–1992), British painter and linocut maker
• Margaret Barr (choreographer) (1904–1991), Australian dance-drama choreographer
• Margaret Berger (born 1985), Norwegian singer-songwriter
• Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971), American photojournalist
• Margaret Brouwer (born 1940), American composer and composition teacher
• Margaret Busby, Ghanaian British publisher and writer
• Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623–1673), English writer, poet, and playwright.
• Margaret Cho (born 1968), American comedian and actress
• Margaret Clark (born 1943), Australian author
• Margaret Clarkson, English artist
• Margaret Cleaves (1848–1917), American physician, writer
• Margaret Wootten Collier (1869-1947), American author
• Margaret Deland (1857–1945), American author
• Margaret Drabble, English author
• Margaret E. Winslow (1836–1936), American activist, editor, author
• Margaret Eleanor Parker (1827–1896), American social activist, social reformer, travel writer
• Margaret Elizabeth Sangster (1838–1912), American author, poet, editor
• Margaret Forster, British author
• Margaret Frame (1903–1985), Canadian painter
• Margaret Frances Sullivan (1847–1903), Irish-American writer, journalist, editor
• Margaret Fuller (1810–1850), American critic
• Margaret Gale (born 1930), British operatic soprano
• Margaret Harker (1920–2013), British photographer and historian of photography
• Margaret Hillis, American conductor
• Margaret Hunt Brisbane (1858–1925), American poet
• Margaret Lane (1907–1994), British journalist, biographer and novelist
• Margaret Larkin (1899–1967), American writer
• Margaret Laurence (1926–1987), Canadian novelist
• Margaret Leighton (1922–1976), English actress
• Margaret Lockwood (1916–1990), British actress
• Margaret Manton Merrill, British-American journalist, writer, translator, elocutionist
• Margaret Mazzantini (born 1961), Italian-Irish author
• Margaret McDonald Bottome (1827-1906), American reformer, organizational founder, author
• Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949), American author
• Margaret Ogden (born 1952), American fantasy author best known by the pen name Robin Hobb
• Margaret Oliphant (1828–1897), Scottish author
• Margaret Bloodgood Peeke (1838–1908), American traveler, lecturer, author
• Margaret Peterson Haddix (born 1964), American writer
• Margaret Randall (born 1936), American writer
• Margaret Roper (1505–1544), English writer, translator
• Margaret Rutherford (1892–1972), British actress of the stage and screen
• Margaret Scobie (born 1948), Australian indigenous Aboriginal painter
• Margaret Severin-Hansen, American ballerina
• Margaret (singer) (born 1991), Polish singer and songwriter
• Margaret Tracey (born 1967), American ballet dancer
• Margaret Travolta, American actress
• Margaret Walker (1915–1998), American author
• Margaret Whiting (1924–2011), American popular music and country music singer
• Margaret Wise Brown (1910–1952), American author
• Margaret Wynne Lawless (1847–1926), American poet, author, educator, philanthropist
• Margaret Keane (1927–2022), American painter
• Meg Stuart (born 1965), American choreographer, dancer, performing artist

Education, science, and technology

• Margaret, Lady Moir (1864–1942), founding member of the Women's Engineering Society, Scotland
• Margaret Haley (1861–1939), American educator, promoted teacher's unions
• Margaret Becklake (1922–2018), Canadian academic and epidemiologist
• Margaret Burbidge (1919–2020), British astronomer
• Margaret Byers (1832–1912), Irish educator, activist, social reformer, missionary, writer
• Margaret Mordecai Jones Cruikshank (1878–1955), American educator and college president
• Margaret Elisabeth Felix (born 1937), Indian educator
• Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939), American psychologist
• Margaret Frame, Scottish scientist, professor of molecular cell biology
• Margaret Gurney (1908–2002), American mathematician, statistician, and computer programmer
• Margaret Hamilton, American computer scientist
• Margaret Howe Lovatt, naturalist
• Margaret Hutchinson, English educator, naturalist and author
• Margaret Lin Xavier (1898–1932), Thai physician
• Margaret Mead, American anthropologist
• Margaret Helen Read (1889–1991), British social anthropologist and academic
• Margaret C. Roberts (1846–1926), American obstetrician
• Margaret Warner Morley (1858–1923), American biologist, wrote children's books on biology
• Margaret Wiecek, Polish-American operations researcher

Politics

• Margaret A. Davidson (1950–2017), American lawyer and coastal science pioneer
• Margaret (Ann) Coffey (born 1946), former British Member of Parliament for Stockport
• Margaret Beckett (born 1943), British Member of Parliament for Derby South
• Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), was the first woman to serve in both houses of the United States Congress, and the first woman to represent Maine in either.
• Margaret Curran (born 1958), former British Member of Parliament for Glasgow East
• Margaret Davidson (1871–1964), British wife of colonial governor of New South Wales, Australia
• Margaret Davidson (suffragist) (1879–1978), Scottish suffragist, teacher and WW1 nurse
• Margaret Ewing (1945–2006), Scottish politician
• Margaret Ferrier (born 1960), British Member of Parliament for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
• Margaret French McLean, First Lady of North Carolina
• Margaret Greenwood (born 1959), British Member of Parliament for Wirral West
• Margarett (Maggie) Hassan (born 1958), United States Senator for New Hampshire
• Margaret Hodge (born 1944), British Member of Parliament for Barking
• Margaret Hoover (born 1977), American political consultant and commentator, great-granddaughter of the former president
• Margaret Gardner Hoey (1875–1942), American political hostess and First Lady of North Carolina
• Margaret (Maggie) Jones, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, British Labour Peer and trade union official
• Margaret Mitchell (Canadian politician) (1925–2017), New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Vancouver East
• Margaret Mitchell (Scottish politician) (born 1952), Scottish Conservative politician
• Margaret Moran (born 1955), former Labour MP for Luton South who was convicted of the largest amount of fraud in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal
• Margaret Ritchie (born 1958), politician who served in the Northern Ireland Assembly and both British Houses of Parliament
• Margaret Rose Sanford (1918–2006), First Lady of North Carolina
• Margaret Selina Martei, Ghanaian Member of Parliament for Asamankese (1965–1966)
• Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who served from 1979 to 1990
• Margeret (Maggie) Throup (born 1967), British Member of Parliament for Erewash

Sports

• Margaret Boyd (1913–1993), English lacrosse player and schoolteacher
• Margaret Court (born 1942), Australian tennis player
• Margaret Groos (born 1959), American long-distance runner
• Margaret Hoelzer (born 1983), American swimmer
• Margaret Jeffery (1920–2004), British swimmer and Olympian
• Margaret Martin (born 1979), American professional bodybuilder
• Margaret Maughan (1928–2020), British Paralympic archer
• Margaret McIver (1933–2020), Australian equestrian
• Margaret Purce (born 1995) American soccer player

Other

• Margaret Barclay, died 1618 as a result of witch trials held in Irvine, Ayrshire
• Margaret Catherine Blaikie (1823-1915), Scottish temperance reformer
• Margaret Brent (c. 1601–1671), English immigrant colonial landowner
• Margaret Casely-Hayford (born 1959), British lawyer
• Margaret Cochran Corbin (1751–1800), fought in the U.S. Revolutionary War and was given a pension by Congress
• Margaret Douie Dougal (1858-1938), British chemical publication indexer
• Margaret Dye Ellis (1845-1925), American social reformer
• Margaret E. Kuhn (1905–1995), founder of the Gray Panthers organisation
• Margaret Elizabeth Douglas (1934–2008), English television producer and executive
• Margaret Feeny (1917–2012), founder and first director of London's Africa Centre
• Margaret Hampshire (1918–2004), British educator and civil servant
• Margaret Hanmer (c. 1362 – c. 1420), the wife of Welsh leader Owain Glyndŵr
• Margaret Haughery (1813–1882), philanthropist known as "the mother of the orphans"
• Margaret Irvine (1948–2023), British crossword compiler
• Margaret Jeffrey (1896–1977), Australian police officer
• Margaret Bischell McFadden, American philanthropist and social worker
• Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage (1828–1918), American philanthropist who established the Russell Sage Foundation
• Margaret Prior (1773–1842), American humanitarian, missionary, moral reform worker, writer
• Margaret Sanger (1879–1966), founder of the birth control movement in the United States
• Margaret Swain (1909–2002), English embroidery and textile historian

Fictional characters

• Margaret Evelyn "Maggie" Simpson, in the TV show The Simpsons
• Margaret Fish, a chiropodist and a character in Bob and Margaret
• Margaret Hale, heroine in Elizabeth Gaskell's 1855 novel North and South
• Margaret Hooper, secretary to White House Chiefs of Staff Leo McGarry and CJ Cregg played by NiCole Robinson in the TV series The West Wing
• Margaret Houlihan, character in both the movie and television show M*A*S*H
• Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing, by Shakespeare
• Margaret "Meg" March, character in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Margaret Mildred "Kit" Kittredge, in the Kit Kittredge series of American Girl books and related toys
• Margaret "Maggie" Mathison, character in Homeland
• Margaret Moonlight, a boss in the Suda 51 game No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
• Margaret "Peggy" Bundy, a character played by Katey Sagal in the 1987–97 Fox sitcom Married... with Children
• Margaret "Peggy" Carter, a character featured in several storylines published by Marvel Comics
• Margaret White, in the 1974 novel Carrie by Stephen King
• Margaret, a character in the Cartoon Network animated series Regular Show
• Margaret, a character who is Jake the Dog’s mother in the TV series Adventure Time
• Margaret Sawyer, fictional character in DC Comics and a supporting character in Superman and Batman
• Mistress Margaret Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, by Shakespeare
• Margaret SquarePants, SpongeBob's mother and Harold's wife in SpongeBob SquarePants
• Margaret "Maggie" Horton, a character on the soap opera Days of Our Lives

See also

• Margaret (disambiguation)
• Lady Margaret (disambiguation)

References

External links

Look up margaret in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• "Margaret". Edgar’s Name Pages. 2001. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009.