Margene
Feminine form of the name "Margaret", derived from Greek meaning "pearl".
Name Census estimates that about 587 living Americans carry the first name Margene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Margene today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Margene births was 1951 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Margene. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Margene is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Margenes were born before 1960.
People living today
587
~ 1 in 583,909 Americans
Peak year
1951
66 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1972 SSA rank
#5,475
Tracked since 1912
Census
Margene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,018 people with the first name Margene, which placed it at #12,275 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,275
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,018 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Margene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margene is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.3%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Margene described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Margene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.4% · 900
- Black or African American6.3% · 64
- Two or more races2.1% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Margene
Out of the 1,692 babies given the name Margene since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Margene as a male name
- Ranked #5,475 in 1972
- 5 male births in 1972
- Peak: 1972 (5 births)
Margene as a female name
- Ranked #10,742 in 1978
- 5 female births in 1978
- Peak: 1951 (66 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Margene leans strongly female. 998 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 15 male bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Margene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Margene from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 439 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Margene by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Margene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Margenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Ohio, Utah, Iowa recorded the most babies named Margene, while Washington, Georgia, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Margene
The name Margene is a relatively modern variation of the name Margaret, which has its origins in the Greek language. Margaret comes from the Greek words "margarites" meaning "pearl" and "gennao" meaning "to be born or produced." The name was initially used to describe a female of great virtue and beauty, with the pearl serving as a symbol of purity and preciousness.
While the name Margaret has been in use since ancient times, the specific spelling "Margene" appears to have emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century, likely as a diminutive or affectionate form of Margaret. The earliest known reference to the name Margene can be found in the United States Census records from the early 1900s, indicating its usage as a given name for newborn girls.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Margene was Margene Covey, an American actress and dancer born in 1916. She appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s, including the 1937 movie "Swing It Sailor."
Another prominent figure with the name Margene was Margene Bulcroft Nelson, an American author and professor who lived from 1927 to 2012. She was known for her contributions to the field of gerontology and her research on aging and family relationships.
In the realm of sports, Margene Vosti was a Canadian figure skater who competed in the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. She was a multiple Canadian national champion in the 1960s and later became a coach and choreographer.
Margene Zappa, born in 1965, is the youngest daughter of the renowned musician Frank Zappa. She has worked as a writer, artist, and activist, and has been involved in preserving her father's musical legacy.
Another notable individual with the name Margene is Margene Covey, an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives from 2005 to 2013, representing the 109th district.
While the name Margene is not as common as its parent name Margaret, it has been used throughout various regions and cultures, particularly in the United States and Canada, often as a unique and distinctive variation of the more traditional form.
People
Margene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Margene as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Margene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Margene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 587 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Margene going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 583,909 US residents.
Is Margene a common name?
We classify Margene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,692 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Margene most popular?
The single biggest year for Margene was 1951, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Margene is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Margene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,018 people with the name Margene, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,275 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Margene in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Margene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Margene leans strongly female. 998 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 15 male bearers (1.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Margene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Margene is White at 88.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.3%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Margene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Margene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.4% (900 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Margene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Margene a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Margene in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Margene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Margene in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Margene can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Margene?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Margene at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.