Nicknames for Margaret
44 ideas for Margaret — the short forms people actually use, plus cute, funny and gamer versions. Copy any of them in one click.
- Maggie the warmest and most-used form
- Meg the clean one-syllable clip
- Peggy from a medieval Meg-to-Peg rhyme shift
- Margo the sophisticated French-flavoured form
- Marge the blunt clip, mid-century
- Daisy French marguerite means daisy
- Midge old English pet form
- Peg the shorter version of Peggy
- Megs the friend version of Meg
- Mags the friend version of Maggie
- Greta the German short form
- Gretchen the German diminutive of Greta
- Rita the tail end, standard in Spain and Italy
- Margarita the Spanish form
- Margherita the Italian form
- Marguerite the French form
- Margarete the German form
- Margit the Hungarian and Nordic form
- Mairead the Irish form
- Maisie the Scottish pet form
- Gosia the Polish everyday short form
- Margot the French spelling, t silent
- Maggie May the song, and a real double name
- Mo the tightest clip of Margo
- Pearl what the Greek name means
- Maggie Moo family pet name
- Megsy affectionate extension of Meg
- Margarine the tease every Margaret survives
- The Iron Lady said once, ironically, then dropped
- Mary Margaret with the ending people add when they like you.
- Marie Margaret with the ending people add when they like you.
- Maro Margaret with the ending people add when they like you.
- Ma-ma The opening sound of Margaret, doubled.
- Merry Margaret Shares the "M" sound with Margaret.
- Margaret Comet "Comet" rhymes with Margaret.
- Margaret Sweet "Sweet" rhymes with Margaret.
- Gretta A short form people genuinely use for Margaret.
- Madge A short form people genuinely use for Margaret.
- Maggy A short form people genuinely use for Margaret.
- Margery A short form people genuinely use for Margaret.
- Margie A short form people genuinely use for Margaret.
- Margy A short form people genuinely use for Margaret.
- Margareta The Swedish form of Margaret.
- Maru Margaret with the ending people add when they like you.
About the name Margaret.
The Greek margarites means pearl, and that single word explains an unusually large family of names: Margaret, Margarita, Marguerite, Margot, Greta and Rita all descend from it. The French marguerite also names the daisy, which is why Daisy has served as a pet form of Margaret since the nineteenth century, a connection that surprises almost everyone who hears it. Margaret was one of the dominant American girls' names of the first half of the twentieth century, sat near the top of the charts in 1950, then fell steeply and has been quiet ever since. Today it reads squarely as a grandmother name, which in current naming cycles usually means a revival is overdue.
Margaret is sturdy and slightly severe, a name suggesting competence rather than charm. Its nicknames disagree with each other completely. Maggie is warm and rural, Peggy is thoroughly mid-century, Margo is sleek and continental, and Daisy is light and floral, which the full name most certainly is not.
Most popular around 1950. Based on US birth records.
- Origin
- Greek
- Meaning
- pearl
- Syllables
- Mar·gar·et
- Used as
- a girls’ name
Margaret around the world.
These are the real forms Margaret takes in other languages, which often make excellent nicknames in their own right.
-
Marguerite
French
-
Margarita
Spanish
-
Margherita
Italian
-
Margarete
German
-
Margareta
Swedish
-
Margit
Hungarian
Famous people called Margaret.
-
Margaret Thatcher
first British woman prime minister
-
Margaret Atwood
Canadian novelist and poet
-
Margaret Mead
American cultural anthropologist
Questions about the name Margaret
Why is Peggy a nickname for Margaret? +
Through two steps. Margaret gave Meg, and medieval English had a habit of forming rhyming pet names, turning Meg into Peg and then Peggy. The same process produced Bob from Rob and Dick from Rick. The link looks arbitrary now because the middle step is invisible.
Is Margaret coming back? +
There are early signs. It has stabilised after a long fall, and both Maggie and Margot are climbing on their own, which usually precedes a revival of the parent name. It still reads as belonging to someone born before 1960, but that is the exact profile of names that return.
What does Margaret mean? +
Pearl, from the Greek margarites, which likely entered Greek from an Iranian source. The pearl sense survives in the Spanish margarita and the French marguerite, and it explains why the name has always carried a faintly precious quality despite its plain sound.
What is the full list of Margaret nicknames? +
Maggie, Meg, Peggy, Peg, Margo, Marge, Midge, Greta and Daisy are all attested in English. Rita and Margarita come from the Spanish branch. Few names offer this many options, and the one a Margaret uses tends to reveal her decade of birth.