Martin
- Pronunciation
- [Mar-tin]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Warrior Of Mars.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Martin
Martin descends from the Latin Martinus, derived from Mars (the Roman god of war) — yielding "of Mars" or "warlike one." The name's overwhelming Christian anchor is Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), the Hungarian-born Roman soldier who, according to legend, cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar before his conversion to Christianity. Saint Martin became the patron saint of soldiers, beggars, and France.
The name has been continuously used across European Christian-influenced naming traditions for over fifteen hundred years. The single most consequential modern American bearer is civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) — the iconic American Baptist minister whose 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech and 1964 Nobel Peace Prize made him one of the most-recognized names in 20th-century American moral history. Martin Luther King Day (January 15) is a US federal holiday in his honor.
Other notable bearers include German theologian Martin Luther (1483–1546, the foundational figure of the Protestant Reformation whose 1517 Ninety-Five Theses launched a major split in Western Christianity); American filmmaker Martin Scorsese (born 1942, director of Goodfellas, The Departed, and many others); and English novelist Martin Amis. Martin held a US top-100 boys' rank from 1880 through 1999 and the top 200 since. The name's appeal is its dignified classical-Christian pedigree combined with two soft syllables. The name reads as both classical and contemporary, with the strong moral register from the Martin Luther King anchor. Common nicknames Marty (the dominant short form, casual and warm), Mart, and the rare Tinny each carry distinct registers; international forms include Martín (Spanish, with accent), Martino (Italian), Martin (French/German, identical), and the original Latin Martinus.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Martin
US Popularity History (1880–2025)
Annual US births named Martin by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1963 with 6,070 boys named Martin (boy rank #62 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #335 for boys (1,009 US births). That's 273 places below its 1963 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Martin Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Martin the strongest states are District of Columbia, Alaska, Arizona.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | #162 | 41 |
| 2 | Alaska | #171 | 19 |
| 3 | Arizona | #203 | 392 |
| 4 | California | #207 | 1,899 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | #218 | 23 |
| 6 | Delaware | #218 | 15 |
| 7 | Florida | #225 | 848 |
| 8 | Texas | #229 | 1,644 |
| 9 | Illinois | #239 | 508 |
| 10 | Washington | #261 | 293 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louisiana | #680 | 68 |
| 2 | Missouri | #538 | 102 |
| 3 | Arkansas | #536 | 48 |
| 4 | Kentucky | #525 | 66 |
| 5 | South Carolina | #508 | 84 |
| 6 | Alabama | #486 | 93 |
| 7 | Ohio | #459 | 221 |
| 8 | Indiana | #454 | 153 |
| 9 | North Carolina | #448 | 208 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | #443 | 87 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Martin in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marty | Warrior Of Mars. | Male | English |
Famous People Named Martin
8 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Martin.
- Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue.
- Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an African-American actor, director, producer, screenwriter and stand-up comedian.
- Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher, better known for his existential and phenomenological theories.
- Martin Luther — Religious Leader (1483)
- Martin Luther King Jr was a prominent leader of civil rights movement in US.
- Martin McDonagh is a British-Irish playwright, screenwriter and film director.
- Martín Torrijos is a former President of Panama, famous for introducing various progressive changes, including the ‘Canal Expansion Project’.
- Martin Van Buren — US President (1782)
Looking for names like Martin?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Martin to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Martin against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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