Margaret
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French, Latin, and Greek Margarites from the Old Persian word for pearl *margārīta-.
The Persian is cognate with the Sanskrit मञ्जरी mañjarī meaning "pearl" or "cluster of blossoms".
Margaret has been an English name since the eleventh century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became less popular between the sixteenth century and eighteenth 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 different languages, including: Maggie, Mairead, Madge, Margarete, Marge, Margie, Meg, Megan, Aurie, Rita, Gretchen, and Peggy.
Aristocrats
Austria
- Margaret, Countess of Tyrol
Belgium and the Netherlands
- Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy and wife of Charles the Bold, Regent of France
- Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, Princess of Asturias and Duchess of Savoy by her two marriages
- Margaret of Parma, illegitimate daughter of Charles V and Johanna Maria van der Gheynst
Denmark
- Margaret I of Denmark
- Margrethe II of Denmark
England, Scotland, and United Kingdom
- Saint Margaret of Scotland,, Queen of Scots
- Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI of England
- Margaret Pole, born Princess Margaret of York & Clarence, Countess of Salisbury
- Margaret Tudor, elder sister of Henry VIII of England and great-grandmother of James I of England
- Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby,, mother of King Henry VII and paternal grandmother of King Henry VIII of England
- Margaret Douglas, daughter of Margaret Tudor
- Princess Margaret of Connaught, elder daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught
- Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
- Lady Margaret Fortescue, one of the UK's largest private landowners
France
- Margaret of Provence
- Margaret of France, Duchess of Brabant
- Marguerite de Navarre
- Margaret of Valois
Hungary
- Margaret of Hungary, wife of Isaac II Angelos Byzantine Emperor
Norway
- Margaret of Scotland
Religious figures
Canonized
- Saint Margaret the Virgin – the oldest and the most prominent; also known as Margaret of Antioch
- Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
- Saint Margaret of Cortona
- Saint Margaret of Scotland
- Saint Margaret of Hungary
- Margaret Clitherow
- Saint Margaret of England
- Margaret the Barefooted
- St Marguerite d'Youville of Canada
Beatified
- Margaret of Castello
- Margaret Pole
- Margaret Ward
Artists and authors
- Margaret , Polish singer and songwriter
- Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist and poet
- Margaret Avison, Canadian poet
- Margaret Barnard, British painter and linocut maker
- Margaret Barr , Australian dance-drama choreographer
- Margaret Berger, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- Margaret Bourke-White, American photojournalist
- Margaret Hunt Brisbane, American poet
- Margaret Busby, Ghanaian British publisher and writer
- Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English writer, poet, and playwright.
- Margaret Cho, American comedian and actress
- Margaret Clark, Australian author
- Margaret Clarkson, English artist
- Margaret Cleaves, American physician, writer
- Margaret Deland, American author
- Margaret Drabble, English author
- Margaret Forster, British author
- Margaret Frame, Canadian painter
- Margaret Fuller, American critic
- Margaret Harker, British photographer and historian of photography
- Margaret Hillis, American conductor
- Margaret Lane, British journalist, biographer and novelist
- Margaret Larkin, American writer
- Margaret Laurence, Canadian novelist
- Margaret Wynne Lawless, American poet, author, educator, philanthropist
- Margaret Leighton, English actress
- Margaret Ogden, American fantasy author best known by the pen name Robin Hobb
- Margaret Lockwood, British actress
- Margaret Manton Merrill, British-American journalist, writer, translator, elocutionist
- Margaret Mitchell, American author
- Margaret Oliphant, Scottish author
- Margaret Eleanor Parker, American social activist, social reformer, travel writer
- Margaret Peterson Haddix, American writer
- Margaret Randall, US writer
- Margaret Roper, English writer, translator
- Margaret Rutherford, British actress of the stage and screen
- Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, American author, poet, editor
- Margaret Scobie, Australian indigenous Aboriginal painter
- Maggie Smith, British actress
- Meg Stuart, American choreographer, dancer, performing artist
- Margaret Ashmore Sudduth, American educator, editor, temperance advocate
- Margaret Frances Sullivan, Irish-American writer, journalist, editor
- Margaret Travolta, American actress
- Margaret Walker, American author
- Margaret Whiting, American popular music and country music singer
- Margaret E. Winslow, American activist, editor, author
- Margaret Wise Brown, American author
Educators and scientists
- Margaret Burbidge, British astronomer
- Margaret Byers, Irish educator, activist, social reformer, missionary, writer
- Margaret Elisabeth Felix, American mathematician, statistician, and computer programmer
- Margaret Angela Haley, American educator, promoted teachers unions
- Margaret Hamilton, American computer scientist
- Margaret Hutchinson, English educator, naturalist and author
- Margaret Howe Lovatt, naturalist
- Margaret Mead, American anthropologist
- Margaret Warner Morley, American biologist, wrote children's books on biology
- Margaret Floy Washburn, American psychologist
- Margaret Wiecek, Polish-American operations researcher
Politics
- Margaret Beckett, British Member of Parliament for Derby South
- Margaret Coffey, former British Member of Parliament for Stockport
- Margaret Curran, former British Member of Parliament for Glasgow East
- Margaret Ewing, Scottish politician
- Margaret Ferrier, British Member of Parliament for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
- Margaret Greenwood, British Member of Parliament for Wirral West
- Margaret Hodge, British Member of Parliament for Barking
- Margaret Jones, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, British Labour Peer and trade union official
- Margaret Lowenthal, American politician
- Margaret Selina Martei, Ghanaian Member of Parliament for Asamankese
- Margaret Mitchell , New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Vancouver East
- Margaret Mitchell , Scottish Conservative politician
- Margaret Moran, former Labour MP for Luton South who was convicted of the largest amount of fraud in the Parliamentary Expenses Scandal
- Margaret Ritchie, Northern Irish politician who has served in the Northern Ireland Assembly and both British Houses of Parliament
- Margaret Thatcher, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who served from 1979 to 1990
- Margeret Throup, British Member of Parliament for Erewash
Other
- Margaret Brennan, Canadian nun
- Margaret Brent, British colonial landowner, called the first American feminist
- Margaret Casely-Hayford, British lawyer
- Margaret Cochran Corbin, fought in the U.S. Revolutionary War and was given a pension by Congress
- Margaret Court, Australian tennis player
- Margaret Feeny, founder and first director of London's Africa Centre
- Margaret Groos, American long-distance runner
- Margaret Haughery, philanthropist known as "the mother of the orphans"
- Margaret Hoelzer, American swimmer
- Margaret Jeffery, British swimmer and Olympian
- Margaret Jeffrey, Australian police officer
- Margaret E. Kuhn, founder of the Gray Panthers
- Margaret Martin, American professional bodybuilder
- Margaret Maughan, British Paralympic archer
- Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, American philanthropist who established the Russell Sage Foundation
- Margaret Prior, American humanitarian, missionary, moral reform worker, writer
- Margaret Sanger, founder of the birth control movement in the United States
- Maisie Williams, English actress.
Fictional characters
- Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing, by Shakespeare
- Margaret "Peggy" Carter, a character featured in several storylines published by Marvel Comics
- Margaret, a character in the Cartoon Network animated series Regular Show
- Margaret Hooper, secretary to White House Chiefs of Staff Leo McGarry and CJ Cregg played by NiCole Robinson in the television series The West Wing
- Margaret Houlihan, character in both the movie and television show M*A*S*H
- Margaret "Peggy" Bundy, a character played by Katey Sagal in the 1987–97 Fox sitcom Married... with Children
- Margaret Mildred "Kit" Kittredge, in the Kit Kittredge series of American Girl books and related toys
- Margaret "Meg" March, character in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Mistress Margaret Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, by Shakespeare
- Margaret Evelyn "Maggie" Simpson, in the TV show The Simpsons
- Margaret White, in the 1974 novel Carrie by Stephen King
- Margaret Moonlight, a boss in the Suda 51 game