Where did the baby name Margaux come from in 1975?

Model Margaux Hemingway (1954-1996)
Margaux Hemingway

The name Margaux debuted in the U.S. baby name data in the mid-1970s:

  • 1977: 44 baby girls named Margaux
  • 1976: 35 baby girls named Margaux
  • 1975: 18 baby girls named Margaux [debut]
  • 1974: unlisted
  • 1973: unlisted

The influence?

Margaux Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, who became famous as a fashion model in the mid-1970s. Notably, she was awarded the first-ever million-dollar modeling contract — from Fabergé. She was the spokesmodel for the company’s popular Babe perfume, launched in 1976.

Margaux was born “Margot,” but later changed the spelling of her name. According to her obituary in the New York Times, “[s]he was said to have changed her name from Margot when she learned that her parents drank Chateau Margaux on the night of her conception.”

Both “Margaux” and “Margot” can be traced back to the name Marguerite, the French form of Margaret (from the Ancient Greek word margarites, meaning “pearl”).

It’s interesting to note that the spelling of the French wine/winery/region has varied over time. One 17th-century map of Château Margaux, for instance, called it “Margaud.” And the wine has been labeled Margou, Margous, Margoo, Margoose, Margoux, etc.

Margaux Hemingway’s younger sister, actress Mariel Hemingway — named after the Cuban port town of Mariel, where father and grandfather regularly went on fishing trips — starred in the 1979 Woody Allen film Manhattan and was likely the reason the name Mariel saw higher usage in 1980. (News about the Mariel boatlift that year may have been an influence as well, though.)

Which name would you be more likely to use for a baby girl, Margaux or Mariel?

Sources:

Image © 1975 Time

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