A female name. (French Marguerite, Margot, German Margarete, Margarethe, Gretel, Gretchen, Italian Margherita) Latin margarita from Greek μαργαρίτης ‘a pearl’; the ultimate origin of the word is believed to be Persian. St Margaret of Antioch, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, was supposed to have been martyred in the 3rd C, but nothing was known of her beyond that fact and her name, until apocryphal lives were written, which represented her as having overcome a dragon. She was one of the most popular medieval saints, largely, perhaps, because her last words were reported to be: ‘Hearken to my prayer, O God, and grant to every man who shall write my life or relate my works, or shall hear or read them, that His name be written in the book of eternal life, and whosoever shall build a church in my name, do not bring him to thy remembrance to punish him for his wrong-doing.’ She was also regarded as the patron of women in child-birth (e.g. a d. of Henry III was christened Margaret because her mother had invoked the saint during her labour). Her name appeared in English litanies as late as the 17th C. The first recorded example of the name in England is St Margaret (d. 1093) sister of Edgar Atheling and wife of Malcolm III of Scotland, whose name may have been due to her Hungarian connexions (cf. Christina). The name soon became a favourite in both England and Scotland, and evolved a host of nicknames, abbreviations, and diminutive such as Margot, Magge, Magot, Madge, Meg, Mog. C. W. Bardsley, Dictionary of English and WelshSurnames (pub. 1901) gives more than 30 surnames derived from them. One form of the name, Margery or Marjorie (q.v.), was early regarded as an independent name. The nicknames Mag and Meg later gave rise to the rhymed forms Pog, Poggy and Peg, Peggy. In Scotland the pet-forms Maggie, Maisie, and Mysie have been chief favourites. German Greta, Italian Rita, French Margot are now sometimes used in England. Margaret went somewhat out of fashion from the 16th to 18th C but regained its popularity in the later 19th C, and is now once more one of the most generally used of women’s names.

Margareta Curia Regis Rolls 1189, Hundred Rolls 1273. Margarete, Margarett Lincs 1450. Margarette Lincs 1450. Markaret Records of St. Mary at Hill, 1420-1559 (E.E.T.S. 125-8) 1494. Margat Lincs 1534. Margyt Lincs 1540. Merget English Register of Oseney Abbey, c. 1460 (E.E.T.S. 133-4) 1460. Mergret Records of St. Mary at Hill, 1420-1559 (E.E.T.S. 125-8) 1498. Magote, Magott Hundred Rolls 1273, Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379, The Coventry Leet Book 1430. Meggot Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Magge Hundred Rolls 1273. Megge Hundred Rolls 1273, Coventry Mysteries 15th C.