Tell me your thoughts on Margaret

[Lauraloop1516]

So I am just off the phone with my grandma, who is in a care home and I obviously have been unable to see for a long time. Her dementia has really advanced and it was heartbreaking to have to natter away nonsense to fill the silence (she struggles to speak).

Anyway, I'm 13 weeks pregnant and we don't know the sex yet. I came off the phone and felt it would be perfect to call a girl 'Margaret' nn 'Maggie' after my granny. I'm not sure she'll get to meet them (we live a few hours away and obviously no one knows what restrictions will be like later in the year) and it would at least be a small way to remember her everyday.

So... what do you think? I had always thought it was an old lady name - EVERY old lady seems to be called Margaret - yet I'm suddenly overcome by this feeling. Do you know many little Margarets? Is it going to spike in popularity or do you think it will remain niche?

Really like Maggie (and Peggy!)

My mum is Maggie (she also has dementia, sadly). Maggie is her given name and it really suits her feisty personality. Lots of people want to call her Margeret which she isn't, or marg or marguerite.
I think it's a lovely name. I have a friend who's is french and her name is pronounced Maggie spelt Maguy

Margaret is Thatcher to me. As others have said Maggie is cute though. You could dress her like Maggie Simpson in a little star shaped snowsuit

I think I saw that it’s increasing in popularity and I’m seeing it mentioned more in threads. I also know a little girl called Margarita non Maggie - it’s really cute on her.

It’s a family name for us too and we were planning to use it as either a middle name or with the nickname Peggy.

There's a Maggie in DS's class. He's 6.

She's actually a Magdalena rather than a Margaret.

DH has Margueritas on his side of the family and I have Margarettas in mind if you are looking for alteratives with a twist which still give you the opportunity to name after your grandma without using her exact name.

I do think it will become more popular. It was in the top ten 100 years ago and was the most popular girls name from about 1925 to 1945 before it dropped in popularity. So the hundred year cycle would suggest it definitely due a rival about now.

It's my middle name, after my father's mother (Scottish naming tradition; I'm a second daughter) and I love it - I think it's strong and classic and I like how (unlike my first name) it isn't just a version of a male name. The biggest issue I have with it is pronunciation - is it two syllables (MAR-gret) or three (MAR-ga-ret)? In my family, it's always been three.

In addition to the family/historical/cultural link, I always think of this poem by Matthew Arnold, "The Forsaken Merman". I know, this sounds harsh - but when you think about it it just reinforces the qualities of the name: ancient, traditional, just, fair, true:

Call her once before you go—
Call once yet!
In a voice that she will know:
"Margaret! Margaret!"
Children's voices should be dear
(Call once more) to a mother's ear;
Children's voices, wild with pain—
Surely she will come again!
Call her once and come away;
This way, this way!
"Mother dear, we cannot stay!
The wild white horses foam and fret."
Margaret! Margaret!

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43589/the-forsaken-merman

Thatcher.

Yes, I grew up in the 80s....

We have a Maggie in school.

I think it's a lovely idea but personally like to use family names for middles names and give own name.
My youngest has the middle name Margaret as its my late Nan and my mother in law name too.

Adore Margaret
Perfect name
It's one of my favourite names and I love the option of nickname of Maggie

Margaret does not appear like it's about to boom- it's pretty much stayed around the same place in the charts consistently for the past 25 years, I've just checked the statistics

25 years ago it was number 375 in the charts, it's now number 396

An excellent choice and lovely it has personal
meaning too

My baby niece is a Margaret known as Mara. I think it will come back, lots of good short forms; Maggie, Margot, Daisy, Peggy, Mara, Greta, Meg.

I love it! Great name. Would use and shorten to Maggie or perhaps Margot.

I like it especially with the connection. Like others have said it has good nicknames. If she doesn't like Margaret she can be Daisy, Meg or Maggie.

It’s too frumpy for me, even tho my lovely gran was also Margaret. If I had a daughter, I would have called her Megan, the Welsh for Margaret.

But every Maggie I have met has been lovely :)

I like Margaret. To me it fits with the other crisp "t" ending names - Charlotte, Violet, Harriet, Juliet.

For nicknames, Maggie is nice, as is Meg. I also like Maisie and Greta.

Lovely. Definitely due a comeback.

I love Maggie/Meg/Margot but not Margaret. I'd use any of the shortening as their "full" name.

Love Maggie. Really not understanding where daisy comes in to it though?

It's the sweetest idea. I love names with meaning. Please don't use Margot or another trendier version- your grandma is a Margaret.
As a child of the 80s I agree the Thatcher connotations are hard to lose but I also think of the glamorous Princess Margaret and the name has a prettier sound than I ever realised. It's a strong classic with so many nicknames.

It's a great name. Great meaning (Pearl, unique as every pearl is) and much as we have a lot to say about Margaret Thatcher she had good reasons to make history too. Maggie, Margie, Magsie, Molly, Polly, Peggy..
Yes from me :)

I like the nicknames. However, my Mum has a pathological hatred for it and it's her name. So, to my ear it sounds harsh.

I like it, it’s very elegant, and as the Margot variation is v popular suspect it will be on the rise.

I like the full form for itself, but also there are so many nicknames (Maggie, Meg, Maisie, May, Peggy, Margot, Greta, Rita - Daisy was also originally a nn for Margaret) she’ll have loads of options.

And - it’s a lovely way to celebrate your grandmother

I think it might be tentatively on its way back - keep seeing it suggested on here all of a sudden.

DD is Greta, which we obviously love, but as an ’80s child Margaret is just too indelibly associated with Thatcher to me to consider using the full version. Not so for the generation after me though, and I think it may rise as part of the emerging trend for stronger, less frilly girls’ names. Doubt it’ll become super trendy though.

Love it. Maggie is lovely, also Meg, my auntie Meg was a Margaret. Also a lovely lady. Go for it.