This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Martin'; v. Martel. This once popular font-name, coming as it did in the hereditary surname period, has swelled our 19th century directories enormously.

Martin de Littlebyr, Close Rolls, 42 Henry III.

William fil. Martin, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Mariota fil. Martini, Huntingdonshire, ibid.

Martin le Cordwaner, Close Rolls, 9 Edward II.

Johannes Martynson, 1379: Poll Tax of Howdenshire.

It is interesting to notice that Martinson still lives, although it does not now appear in the London Directory.

1797. Married — Thomas Martinson and Sarah Burrows: St. George, Hanover Square.

This surname is perhaps from three sources: (1) from the personal name; (2) a shortened form of St. Martin which see, the name of a once great family in East Lothian; and (3) possibly a curtailed form of Macmarttn, which see. Martin, clerk to the chancellor of William the Lion, appears in Angus, c. 1189-99 (RAA., 1, 80), and Martin, medicus Willelmi regis, is mentioned within the same period (ibid., I, 8). Walter Martyn was burgess of Edinbergh, 1380 (Egidii, p. 23), and Laurence Martyn, a native of Jedeworth, had letters of denisation in England, 1463 (Bain, IV, 1335). Robert Martyne was vicar of Garwok, 1497 (RAA., II, 377), Florentyne Martyn of Gybles-toune was juror on assize at Cupar, 1520 (SCHF., p. 187), and there was an old family of the name in St. Andrews in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Macfarlane, II, p. 183-198), of which was George Martine (163-1712), secretary to Arch Dishop Sharp. The Martins of Marshadder are descended from Martin, eldest son of Aonghas na Gaoithe (Clan Donald, III, p. 567). Abraham Martin "dit l'Ecossais" (d. 1664), was the first king's pilot on the St. Lawrence river, Canada; the Plains of Abraham, the scene of the battle in 1759, are named from the grant of the land which he received in 1617. Mairtein and Martein 1585, Mairtene 1646, Mairtin 1650, Mairton 1663, Marttine 1660, Mertaune and Mertoune 1607, Merteine 1592, Mertene 1604, Mertine 1509, Mertn 1687, Mertyne 1537, Mirtine 1688.

From the personal name, rendered illustrious by St. Martin, the apostol of the Gauls. Many places in Normandy were dedicated to him, and from one of these sprang the great family who came hither at the Conquest under the name of De Sancto Martino. Both as a personal designation, and a surname, it is very widely spread in all the countries of western Europe. At Paris it is amongst the very commonest of all family names, answering to our own Smith for frequency. Its derivatives are Martins and Martinson. Martineau is well naturalized here, and Martinelli, Martinez, Martini, and other foreign forms are becoming so. The name of the Saint was perhaps derived from the Latin martius, warlike.

This name may be derived from the Latin martius, warlike, from Mars, the God of War. In the Gaelic, mor is great, and duin, a man. Morduin, a chief, a warrior.

Martin. —Distributed over the whole of England and possessing several homes, the two principal being in the south - west, in Cornwall, and in the south - east, in Sussex and Kent. Less important centres are in Worcestershire and Staffordshire, where the Martins of the midlands mainly reside, and in Northumberland, which is the home of the north country Martins, who also extend across the border into the southern half of Scotland.