Mark - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 1 syll. mar(k), ma-rk ] The boy name Mark is pronounced MAARK ^KEY. Mark's language of origin is Latin. It is predominantly used in the Dutch, English, Russian, and Scandinavian languages. The meaning of the name is 'war-like, dedicated to Mars'. Biblical name from the word mars. Marcus (Latin) and Martkos (Latin) are old forms of Mark. The Latin Marcus is a Roman given name derived from the name of Mars, the Roman god of war; it was traditionally given to boys born in March. The name Mark was borne in the Bible by one of the four evangelists who wrote the second Gospel named after him. It was also borne by various other early and medieval saints. Among its limited appearance among royalty, the name was borne by the 6th century King Mark of Cornwall; his villianous appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and husband of Isolde led to the diminished popularity of the name among medieval English speakers. The name later enjoyed a revival in the 17th century among English Puritans.

The name Mark is widely used; it has 28 variants that are used in both English and foreign languages. Variants of the name used in English include Lamark, Marcio (also used in Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish), Marcus (also used in French and German), Marlin, and Marlon. The short forms Markie and Marky, and the variant spelling Marc (also used in French, and German) are other English forms.

Foreign variants of Mark include Maleko (Hawaiian), Marcas (Irish and Scottish), Marcel (Catalan, French, and German), Marcellin (French), Marci (Hungarian), Marcilka (Hungarian), Marco (Italian and Spanish), Marcos (Portuguese and Spanish), Marek (Czech and Polish), Mari (Slovenian), Marinos (Greek), Mario (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and German), Marka (Russian), Markku (Finnish), Marko (Czech, German, Slavic, and Slovenian), Markos (Greek), Marku (Romanian), Markus (Czech, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Latvian, and Scandinavian), Markusha (Russian), and Marts (Latvian).

See also the related forms, Mars (Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, and Scandinavian) and Martin (English, French, German, Romanian, Russian, and Slavic).

Mark is an all-time favorite. Currently it is still a popular baby boy name, but not to the degree it was before. The name's popularity jumped from the 1900s up to the 1960s. At the peak of its usage in 1960, 2.712% of baby boys were given the name Mark. It was #6 in rank then. The baby name has suffered a steep drop in popularity since then. In 2008, it ranked at #139 with a usage of only 0.134%, but it was nonetheless the 2nd most popular after Marcus (English, French, and German), out of all boy names in its family. It was 16% more commonly used than Mark in 2008. The name Mark has been primarily given to boys, although it has also been used as a girl name in the last century. In 1970, 220 times as many boys than girls were given the name Mark.

Baby names that sound like Mark include Marc (English, French, and German), Marque (English), Marques (English), Mars (Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, and Scandinavian), Marsh (English), Meyrick (English), Morse (English), Mroz (Polish), Marcas (Irish and Scottish), Marci (Hungarian), Marco (Italian and Spanish), Marcos (Portuguese and Spanish), Marcus (English, French, and German), Marek (Czech and Polish), Marka (Russian), Markie (English), Markku (Finnish), Marko (Czech, German, Slavic, and Slovenian), Markos (Greek), and Marku (Romanian).

---

Name Popularity Trend + Variant Popularity ChartVariant Popularity Trend + Variant Popularity ChartUnisex Popularity TrendsSound-Like Popularity Trend + Sound-Like Comparison Chart