Martin

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Boy · Latin

Martin

Say it: MAR-tin

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Latin Martinus, derived from Mars.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Used through Saint Martin of Tours.

Its wave through time

Timeless: in steady use for over a century

In the United States

0123418801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1883per 1,000 babies of that sex
  • 311,518 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 1880, about 1 in 309 boys
  • 1,158 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
  2. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  3. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  4. The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
  5. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  6. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Early ChristianLatinEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishHungarianCzechMexicanCentral AmericanAndeanArgentineCaribbean

The family of the name

Other spellings: Marten

FrenchMartin
SpanishMartín
ItalianMartino
PortugueseMartinho
GermanMartin
PolishMarcin
UkrainianMartyn
HungarianMárton

Famous bearers

  • Martin of Tours, 4th-century bishop
  • Martin Luther, Protestant reformer
  • Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
  • Calendars of saints and name days
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
  • English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
  • National birth statistics of European countries source
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.