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Meet Maggie Daly -- No, Not a Typo -- Who Works for Chicago Parks

 Maggie Daly, 25, at Maggie Daley Park.
Maggie Daly, 25, at Maggie Daley Park.
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DNAinfo/David Matthews

MAGGIE DALEY PARK — Maggie Daley Park is named after Maggie Daley, the late former first lady of Chicago who championed children's causes throughout her life. 

Maggie Daly, a 25-year-old Wicker Park resident, was named after her grandmother — whose last name is missing the Daley "e," and who is not related to the city's former First Lady.

"She was a total badass, so it was already a great name to start," Daly said of her grandma Maggie Daly. "She was just really smart and funny and a good namesake. And she raised 12 children, so that’s pretty good." 

Dave Matthews says he can sympathize with sharing a famous name:

Maggie Daley (née Corbett — the one Chicagoans usually think of) grew up in a Pittsburgh suburb before a job took her to Chicago, where she met a 27-year-old lawyer and political scion who would later become mayor. The 25-year-old Daly grew up in an Atlanta suburb before her first job took her to the city three years ago.

"People ask me if I’m related all the time, or if I know about [Maggie Daley] Park," Daly said. "And I’m like, 'Yeah, I know about this park. I hear about it every day.'"

Though the spelling's slightly off, Daly is among the Will Smiths, Chris Browns, and Katy Perrys of the world linked — for better or worse — to the famous people who coincidentally share a common name. Often this means facing the same tired jokes ad nauseam, but Daly, who also happens to work for the Chicago Parks Foundation, is glad that at least her better-known namesake is held in high regard here. 

"That's true. I like to be associated with revered figures," she said. "I'm definitely not bitter." 


Daly at Maggie Daley Park's playground. [DNAinfo/David Matthews]

As her husband's political career grew, Daley threw herself into philanthropy, sitting on the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago's auxiliary board and developing the Chicago Cultural Center and the charity now known as After School Matters.

After graduating from Princeton, Daly taught physics at a South Side charter school until her own experience in nonprofits led her to the parks foundation, which raises money for the city's parks.

Her first few days at the new job invariably brought some jokes.

"Well I had my name on my desk, and everyone’s like, 'Is that really your name?'" she said. "But everyone asks me, even when I check out of stores and stuff, and then I hear my name all the time."

But just because she constantly hears about her name doesn't mean she lets it define her. Names are after all, as Shakespeare's Juliet once mused, merely labels. 

But tell that to Daly's dad. His name's John. Just like the hell-raising golfer.

"He has to go through extra security checks and everything at the airport," Daly said. "John Daly, I guess, is a unique traveler."

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