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Margaret vs Martis

American parents have registered 1,268,519 Margarets since 1880, against 32 Martises. Margaret is still ahead, with 2,436 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Margaret against Martis, 1880 to 2025 0 8k 16k 24k 32k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Margaret Martis

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Margaret has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1980, when Margaret had 2,876 and Martis had 8.

Side by side

  Margaret Martis
Total US births 1,268,51932
Most in one year 28,5218
Babies in 2025 2,436under 5
Estimated living today 484,00020
Median age today 6845
Peak year 19211980
Best rank 4th girls4,495th boys
Rank in 2025 112thunranked
First recorded 18801937
Girls / boys 1,264,774 / 3,7450 / 32

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Margarets alive today are over 68; half the Martises are over 45. That is 23 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Margaret and Martis.