Given name & surname
Meg
Meg is a familiar form of Margaret with a Scottish tradition and a place in Little Women.
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
In English use, Meg is a short form of Margaret. Margaret has been associated with Greek and Hebrew naming traditions. The precise derivation is uncertain.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In English use, Meg is used as a shortened form of Margaret.
The story
Meg March is one of the four sisters in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. The name developed from the older short form Mag and was especially associated with Scottish use before spreading more widely.
Meg through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 5,321
- 0 boys · 5,321 girls
- Most popular year
- 1959
- 196 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −68%
- Cooling
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 196 in 1959. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 7,331 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Meg’s family of names
In English usage, Meg is a diminutive of Margaret. Meg has a related form in Megan. Meg is a short form of Margaret.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Meg
- Meg WhitmanAmerican business executiveborn 1956
- Meg TillyAmerican-Canadian actressborn 1960
- Meg CabotAmerican novelist and writerborn 1967
- Meg WhiteAmerican drummerborn 1974
- Meg FosterAmerican actressborn 1948
- Meg HarrisAustralian swimmerborn 2002
- Meg LanningAustralian cricketerborn 1992
- Meg RosoffAmerican-British children's writer (born 1956)
- Meg UrryAmerican astrophysicistborn 1955
Characters named Meg: Meg Griffin (the Family Guy franchise).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Meg, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Maureen
Maureen is used as a given name and a surname. Maureen is connected with Mary.
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Maryellen
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Maribeth
“star of the sea” · “from the sea of bitterness”
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Marylynn
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Maryanne
Maryanne is a feminine given name.
>99% girls