Margaret

Margaret
Margaret the Virgin is one of many saints named Margaret
Gender	Female
Name day	May 23 or January 25
Origin
Word/name	Persian
Meaning	Pearl
Other names
Related names	Maggie, Mairead, Madge, Margarete, Marge, Margie, Meg, Megan, Rita, Gretchen, Gretel, Greta, Peggy, Molly

Margaret is a female first name, derived via French (Marguerite) and Latin (Margarita) from Greek Margarites, derived from the noun margaron meaning 'pearl'.^[1] The Greek is derived through contact from the Old Persian word for pearl *margārīta- (compare Modern Persian morvārīd "pearl"), which was cognate to the Sanskrit मञ्जरी mañjarī meaning "pearl" or "cluster of blossoms".^[2][3][4][5]

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 a large number of diminutive forms in many different languages, including: Maggie, Mairead, Madge, Margarete, Marge, Margie, Meg, Megan, Rita, Gretchen, and Peggy.^[6]

Aristocrats

Religious figures

Artists and authors

• Margaret, Polish singer and songwriter
• Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist and poet
• Margaret Avison, Canadian poet
• Margaret Berger, Norwegian singer-songwriter
• Margaret Bourke-White, American photojournalist
• Margaret Celine Buckens, British actress
• Margaret Busby, Ghanaian British publisher and writer
• Margaret Cho, American comedian and actress
• Margaret Clark (born 1943), 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 (1903 – 1985), Canadian painter
• Margaret Fuller, American critic
• Margaret Harker (1920–2013), British photographer and historian of photography
• Margaret Hillis, American conductor
• Margaret Lane (1907-1994), British journalist, biographer and novelist
• Margaret Larkin (1899–1967), American writer
• Margaret Laurence, Canadian novelist
• Margaret Wynne Lawless, American poet, author, educator, philanthropist
• Margaret Leighton, English actress
• Margaret Ogden (born 1952), American fantasy author best known by the pen name Robin Hobb
• Margaret Lockwood (1916–1990), 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 Roper, English writer, translator
• Margaret Rutherford, British actress of the stage and screen
• Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, American author, poet, editor
• Maggie Smith (born 1934), British actress
• Margaret Frances Sullivan, Irish-American writer, journalist, editor
• Margaret Travolta, American actress
• Meg Stuart, American choreographer, dancer, performing artist
• Margaret Walker, American author
• Margaret Whiting (1924–2011), American popular music and country music singer
• Margaret E. Winslow (1836-1936), American activist, editor, author
• Margaret Wise Brown, American author
• Margret Grebowicz, Polish philosopher, author, and professor

Educators and scientists

• Margaret Burbidge, British astronomer
• Margaret Elisabeth Felix, Indian educator
• Margaret Frame, Scottish scientist
• Margaret Angela Haley, American educator, promoted teachers unions
• Margaret Hamilton, American computer scientist
• Margaret Hutchinson, English educator, naturalist and author
• Margaret Mead, American anthropologist
• Margaret Warner Morley, American biologist, wrote children's books on biology
• Margaret Floy Washburn, American psychologist

Politics

• Margaret Lowenthal, American politician
• Margaret Moran, disgraced former Labour MP for Luton South who was convicted of the largest amount of fraud in the Parliamentary Expenses Scandal
• Margaret Thatcher, The first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who served from 1979 to 1990

Other

• Margaret Brennan (nun), 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 Groos, American long-distance runner
• Margaret Haughery, philanthropist known as "the mother of the orphans"
• Margaret Hoelzer, American swimmer
• Margaret Jeffrey, British swimmer and Olympian
• Margaret Jeffrey (1896 – 1977), Australian police officer
• Margaret E. Kuhn, founder of the Gray Panthers
• Margaret Martin (bodybuilder), American professional bodybuilder
• Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, American philanthropist who established the Russell Sage Foundation
• Margaret Sanger, founder of the birth control movement in the United States

Fictional characters

• Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing, by Shakespeare
• Margaret, a Little Britain character
• Margaret, a robin in Regular Show
• Margaret "Peggy" Carter, a character featured in several storylines published by Marvel Comics
• Margaret Hale, in the 1855 novel North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• 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
• Margaret Meldrew, wife of Victor Meldrew in the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave
• Margaret "Meg" Murry, in the novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• Mistress Margaret Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, by Shakespeare
• Margaret Simon, titular character in Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
• Margaret Evelyn "Maggie" Simpson, in the TV show The Simpsons
• Margaret White, in the novel Carrie by Stephen King
• Moody Margaret in Horrid Henry

See also

• Margaret (disambiguation)

References

• "Margaret". Edgar’s Name Pages. 2001. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009.