Variant of Marjorie, from Margaret, ultimately from Greek 'margarites' meaning 'pearl.'
Marjory is a medieval variant of Margery, itself an anglicization of Marguerite or Margaret, which descends from the Greek "margarites," meaning pearl. The pearl metaphor carries its own ancient weight: in the Gospel of Matthew the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a pearl of great price, and throughout the medieval period the name Margaret was associated with purity, value, and divine luminosity. The Marjory spelling, with its characteristically Scottish and northern English flavor, represents one branch of the name's long and varied orthographic history.
Among the name's most remarkable bearers is Marjory Fleming (1803–1811), the Scottish child prodigy whose diaries and poems — composed between the ages of six and eight before her death from meningitis — captivated Victorian readers when they were published posthumously. Mark Twain declared her "the most wonderful child in the history of the world," and her guileless, funny, deeply felt writing still enchants readers today. In a very different register, Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890–1998) became one of America's greatest environmental advocates, championing the Florida Everglades over a career spanning the better part of a century; her name now lives permanently attached to the Parkland high school named in her honor.
The Marjory spelling distinguishes itself from Marjorie — the more common twentieth-century American form — by feeling slightly more antique, more decidedly Scottish, and closer to the medieval original. Both versions enjoyed their peak American popularity between roughly 1910 and 1950. Today Marjory reads as a name out of a well-loved novel: a little dusty, very dignified, and carrying the quiet authority of someone who has been around long enough to know how things actually work.