Daisy

What does Daisy mean?

Daisy is an English flower name with an especially vivid older meaning. The flower word comes from Old English dægeseage, “day eye.” Its modern spelling keeps the sound of an ordinary garden flower while carrying a small piece of English word history.

As a personal name, Daisy became established in the nineteenth century, when many plant and flower names entered wider use. Its direct botanical connection places it alongside names such as Rose, Lily, and Violet, each taking its identity from a different flower.

Daisy and Margaret

Daisy has also been used as a nickname for Margaret. The link runs through related forms such as French Marguerite, which is also the French word for a daisy. That gives the name a second role within an older personal-name family.

Someone called Daisy may therefore have Daisy as a full first name or use it as a familiar form of Margaret. The connection is based on the flower's name in another language, so it is less obvious than the relationship between Margaret and Maggie.

This combination makes Daisy unusual among flower names: it has a straightforward English botanical meaning and an established nickname history reaching beyond the English word itself.

Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald chose Daisy Buchanan for the woman at the center of Jay Gatsby's romantic hopes in The Great Gatsby. First published by Scribner in 1925, the novel places her within the wealth and social life of Jazz Age America.

Daisy's name belongs to a story about desire, money, and the distance between an imagined future and the life people actually lead. Her relationship with Gatsby supplies one of the book's central threads, making Daisy an immediately recognizable literary name.

The association also gives it a distinctly 1920s cultural setting, even though Daisy was already well established as a given name before Fitzgerald wrote the novel.

Daisy Duck on screen

Daisy Duck offers a very different fictional connection. She appeared under the name Daisy in Disney's Mr. Duck Steps Out, released on June 7, 1940. The short follows Donald's attempt to court her while his nephews repeatedly interfere.

Her continuing appearances in Disney films, comics, and television helped bring Daisy to successive generations of children. The name consequently spans two quite different fictional worlds: Fitzgerald's adult social drama and the lively comic setting of Donald Duck.

Pronunciation and spelling

Daisy is pronounced DAY-zee, with stress on the first syllable. The written s has a z sound. Deise, Deisy, and Deysi are forms found in other language settings; Margaret provides the established nickname connection. Rose, Lily, and Violet share its flower-name style.

Daisy in the United States

Daisy's best American girls' rank was No. 48 in 1880. Its largest annual count came in 2025, with 3,206 babies, when it ranked No. 75. That recent position represents a rise from No. 183 in 2015 and No. 143 in 2020, showing renewed American enthusiasm for this older flower name.

How popular is Daisy?

In 2025, Daisy ranked #75 among girls in the United States, with 3,206 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1880; its largest annual count was 3,206 in 2025. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.