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Markov is a common surname in Russia, Bulgaria and other Slavic countries.

The name Markov belongs to the ancient type of Russian family names, formed from baptismal names. Religious tradition, established in Russia with the adoption of Christianity, obliged to name a child in honor of a saint, revered by the Orthodox Church on the day of his baptism. After 988, every Slav during the official ceremony of baptism received from the priest a baptismal name.

Thus, the name in question is derived from the baptismal name Mark. This name came to Russia from Byzantium along with Christianity. It has an ancient Greek origin and is derived from the Latin word "marcus" - a hammer. There is also a suggestion that the name Mark originates in the name of the god Mars - patron of humans and grazing animals, later - the god of war.

In the namesake, this name appeared in honor of St. Mark, also called John-Mark. As the church tradition says, on the night of the Cross of Christ's sufferings, the saint followed him, wrapped in a cloak. After the Ascension of the Lord, the house of St. Mark's mother became a place for prayer meetings of Christians and a haven for some of the apostles. It is known that Saint Mark was the closest associate of the apostles Peter, Paul and Barnabas. After the ascetic labors with the apostle Paul, Saint Mark returned to Jerusalem, and then, together with the apostle Peter, visited Rome, where, at his command, he went to Egypt, where he founded the Church. Soon many people reached for the holy martyr, taking from him the love of the Lord.

Bearers ancestors believed that when the name was formed from the baptismal name, the heavenly patron of the ancestor became the patron of the whole family.

Most likely, the founder of the Markov family was a man from a privileged class. The fact is that the surnames formed from the full form of the name were mostly of the social elite, to know, or families that enjoyed great prestige in the given locality, whose neighbors were respectfully called by their full name, unlike other estates, called, as a rule, Diminutives, derivatives, everyday names.

The generally accepted model of Russian generic names did not take shape at once, but by the beginning of the 17th century most of the names were formed by adding to the basis-the name or the father's nickname-the suffixes -y / -y and -in, which gradually became typical indicators of Russian family names. By their origin, such naming were possessive adjectives, patronymics. In this case, the suffix -ow / -ev was added to the basics of the consonant or -o, and the surnames -in were formed from names and nicknames ending in -a / -y. Thus, the descendants of a man named Mark could obtain the inherited Markov surname.

Sources: Dictionary of modern Russian surnames (Ganzhina IM), Encyclopedia of Russian surnames. Secrets of origin and meaning (Vedina TF), Russian surnames: popular etymological dictionary (Fedosyuk Yu.A.), Encyclopedia of Russian surnames (Khigir B.Yu.), Russian surnames (Unbebaun BO).

A name originally from Hebrew. It means 'great speaker'. It is a very common name in Brazil. There is a city baptized with a variant of this name in Brazil, Marcolândia in the state of Piauí.