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Baby names

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Original poster

Margaret and Mary

28 replies

Castlelough · 01/12/2015 21:49

Just wondering what people think of these names?

What pet names have people heard used for Margaret? Would Peggy be sweet on a little girl (and how did it ever come to associated with Margaret?!)

I think Mary is beautiful, especially after years of Downton Abbey. It now seems to me to be a very pretty name.

I have a Lily. Would Mary sound alright with it do you think?

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SleepyRoo · 01/12/2015 21:59

Love Maggie

RiverTam · 01/12/2015 22:05

Margaret - Meg is lovely, as is Daisy. I know a little Margaret, always full name, very sweet.

Mary is also a lovely name.

KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes · 01/12/2015 22:07

I personally feel that both are horribly dated.

ExBallerina · 01/12/2015 22:08

I love Mary.

I've never been a fan of Margaret. Less so of Peggy.

myotherusernameisbetter · 01/12/2015 22:09

Greta?

I like Margaret

Mary is okay but I prefer Mairi.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 01/12/2015 22:09

I really think Peggy is due a revival. I'm not a fan of Margaret itself but love Peggy/Maggie/Meg/Daisy, all great names.

Not keen on Mary.

RiaOverTheRainbow · 01/12/2015 22:12

Margaret -> Margie -> Meggy -> Peggy

Peggy makes me think of Peggy Carter, which is an excellent namesake.

Other nicknames:
Meg
Marge
Maggie
Molly
Maisy
Daisy
Greta
Gretel

I prefer Margaret, but Mary is also very nice and works well with Lily.

DramaAlpaca · 01/12/2015 22:53

Both classic names with an old fashioned feel. I'm not keen on Margaret particularly, but like Mary. It goes well with Lily.

Sophronia · 01/12/2015 22:54

Both are great, and Peggy is a really sweet nn for Margaret. I prefer Mary though, it's very pretty and unusual nowadays.

Sallyhasleftthebuilding · 01/12/2015 22:55

I wanted a Mary-anne, but didnt go well with Joseph Grin

BackforGood · 01/12/2015 22:59

There have always been the odd Mary around, but I really think Margaret is due for a come back.
Love Maggie, Meg, Peggy
It would be on my list if I were expecting right now.

averythinline · 01/12/2015 23:05

Really like Peggy or peg as there are a few in our family going back a bit definitely would have been on dd list....also know a lovely Meg....don't like Maggie always a milk snatcher....
Not keen on Mary ...hated it as a child so have always used my middle name! Although know a couple now and it's ok but not for me

Rosemary /Rosie is another I think similar style?..

Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost · 02/12/2015 10:00

Both are nice elegant and classy. Yes Peggy would be very sweet on a little girl but like you I'm flumexed as to how it was derived from Margaret.
Other pet names
Maggie
Mag
Marg
Margie
Meg

Mary would go lovely with Lily

strawberryandaflake · 02/12/2015 10:48

No, dislike both, sorry. There's retro and there's plain awful.

CakeRattleandRoll · 02/12/2015 13:37

I think both are lovely. DD would have been Mary, but it practically rhymes with our surname, so sounded a bit silly.

Whatsername24 · 02/12/2015 13:51

Mary is quite nice and fits well with Lily, but I really don't like Margaret and it's my MIL's name so puts me off straight away

marmaladegranny · 02/12/2015 13:58

Be warned - Margaret is very often mis-spelt. My DD is one (not my choice - but we won't go there!) and all through primary school we saw a variety of spellings. She's Meg now.
Also it is a bit 'Mumsie' - I was frequently called Margaret - and DD by my name as people seemed to think the names fitted better that way round!!!!

NetballHoop · 02/12/2015 14:00

I like them both. If I had to chose between them I'd go for Mary and possibly go with Polly as a pet name.

BarleysFiddle · 02/12/2015 14:13

I'm a Margaret (named after my grandmother, Peg! - though she was actually baptised Margaret). It gets spelled every way but the right way. And shortened... a lot. Mostly to Mags. I don't hate it though, but neither do I love it. I'm 36 by the way so even when I was named, it was kind of at the end of Margaret being a popular name.

MargaretismyDD · 02/12/2015 14:40

Name changed for this, obviously!

I have a Margaret and think it's a fabulous name. I've never seen is mis-spelled (though she's only 5).

I don't really 'get' the Thatcher thing. It was quite a popular name for her generation and generally common names survive one unpopular or notorious person with that name - Fred is still absolutely fine but Adolf isn't, for example (different leagues, I realise, but both murders). I think it's because it was a name already on the way out when Maggie rose to power.

Mine is never a Maggie. She's sometimes a Mags.

spritefairy · 02/12/2015 14:52

I love Maggie but we cant ever use it. Surname smith and there is only one Maggie smith imo

Elbelle6 · 02/12/2015 15:29

Margaret, one of my middle names, hated it so much I changed it by deed poll could never see why my mother called it me when I was a kid. Endless bullying but times may have changed.

The Peggy thing comes from the Irish version which is Pegeen or various spellings. Peggy even worse in my opinion all twin sets and blue rinses.

Moggie also nn. Daisy too which was what the Margarets in my family were called in the last century.

Mary was what my grandfather wanted to call me - vetoed by everyone else thank god.

Marguerite is a much nicer version I think, and much nicer on the ear.

BellsaRinging · 02/12/2015 15:33

I have always loved both of these, and would have used one if we had been fortunate enough to have a girl (although wouldn't swop the ds obviously). I also love Meg and Peggy as nicknames.

NadiaWadia · 02/12/2015 15:57

Mary is lovely and classic, well overdue for a revival IMO.

Margaret is also classic, but for some reason I find it a bit stodgy. Maybe because when I was growing up, all the middle aged women were called Margaret (I am middle aged myself now and they are all called Karen and Tracey, etc.!) Totally illogical I know, if you introduced it to me now as a new name, it actually has quite a nice sound to it.

For nicknames, there is obviously Maggie (quite a harsh sound IMO), Meg, Meggie, Peg, Peggy, Madge, Daisy. Maybe Greta, Margot (although more usually they're given as names in their own right.

I'd go for Mary personally. Once very common, it's now very unusual.

PicnicPie · 02/12/2015 16:03

I know a Margaret who is called Mags. She is in her 20s and it really suits her. I think it's a lovely nickname.