Names

Originally denoted one who lived near a marsh or bog, derived from Old English mersc “marsh”.

From a place name derived from Old English mearc “boundary” and denu “valley”.

Means “son of Marcos”.

Means “son of Marcos”.

Possibly a Dutch form of Marquardt.

From Old High German marka “border, boundary” and wart “protector”. This was an occupational name for a border guard.

Means “marble” in Italian, possibly indicating a person who lived near a quarry or one who worked with marble.

Variant of Marlow.

Originally a name for a person from Marlow in Buckinghamshire, England. The place name means “remnants of a lake” from Old English mere “lake” and lafe “remnants, remains”. A notable bearer was the English playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593).

Originally denoted a person who hailed from one of the various places in Britain called Marley, ultimately meaning either “pleasant wood”, “boundary wood” or “marten wood” in Old English. One of the main characters in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) bears this surname.