Margarita

The name comes from Greek, from margaritēs, meaning pearl. Latin carried it west and Spain made it common, where Margarita names both the woman and the daisy that grows in field margins. Russia took it in too. Bulgakov gave the name to the heroine of The Master and Margarita, and Russian readers still hear her when they say it.

In Polish the pearl became perła, and the name grew its own family. Małgorzata is the full form on a birth certificate. Małgosia and Gosia soften it for a school register, while Rita clips it short. One name, four ways to be called.

Margarita itself stays a little foreign in Poland, closer to Spanish and Russian streets than to the parish rolls. A child listed as Margarita at the urząd stands slightly apart from every Małgosia in her class. The meaning underneath does not change. It is pearl, from the Greek, whatever ending the name is given.