Mark (English)
Where does "Mark" come from?
The name Mark traces its roots back to the ancient Proto-Italic *Māwortis, which evolved into the Roman praenomen Mārcus. This name is directly linked to Mārs, the Roman god of war. It eventually moved into Middle English as Mark, becoming a widely adopted given name that also identifies the traditional author of the second Gospel.
Full etymology tree
- Mark (English), 'A male given name from Latin.'
- inherited Mark (Middle English)
- borrowed Mārcus (Latin), 'A masculine praenomen.'
- derived Mārs (Latin), 'Mars (god of war)'
- inherited Māvors (Latin), 'Mars'
- inherited *Māwortis (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *Māmart- (Proto-Italic)
- inherited Māvors (Latin), 'Mars'
- derived Mārs (Latin), 'Mars (god of war)'
- borrowed Mārcus (Latin), 'A masculine praenomen.'
- inherited Mark (Middle English)
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris