Martin

One great tree with many branches

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Welcome to the House of Martin!

This site is dedicated to the Martin family from around the world. If you are a Martin, or any variation of the spelling, feel at home. This is your house, and you are always welcome here.

The best way to navigate the pages is to think of the Martins as a “world tribe”. You may have been born in Ireland, or France, or Norway, but as a Martin, you belong to something bigger. The Viking journeys begat the original Martins and the Norman conquests expanded them. The various mass migrations due to war or other circumstances mixed different tribes of Martins in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, to name a few. For example, my Martin ancestors passed from Scotland to Ireland to Canada before settling in the United States. My Great Great Great Grandfather married a Martin from England. I am sure that each and every one of you has a similar story.

The history of the world over the past 300 years is also the history of the Martins, because of the extensive and widespread reach of the family. So, when you read about history, there is a part of you in every page. There has been a Martin involved in everything from being a General to William the Conquerer to an American soldier at the Battle of the Alamo. Martins come from everywhere, and are involved in all walks of life. It will be up to every Martin reading this to contribute his or her part of the story.

This website is going to be a continuing work in progress, as we piece together our family. Please participate in the various Martin DNA studies.  They are one great tool to put together the missing pieces in our ancestry and history. This reward in this journey is not the end, but our experience in making it together. I look forward to hearing from you.

Keith Blackburn Martin.

Martin Surname Origin:

Origin: English, Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, German, Czech, Slovak and Spanish
This name may be derived from the Latin martius, warlike, from Mars, the God of War.

Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Scandinavian, Russian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Hungarian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Мартин (Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: MAHR-tin (English, German), mar-TEN (French), MAWR-teen (Hungarian), mahr-TIN (Bulgarian)

From the Roman name Martinus, which was derived from Martis, the genitive case of the name of the Roman god MARS. Saint Martin of Tours was a 4th-century bishop who is the patron saint of France. According to legend, he came across a cold beggar in the middle of winter so he ripped his cloak in two and gave half of it to the beggar. Five popes have borne this name. Another influential bearer was Martin Luther, the theologian who began the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.

In the Gaelic, mor is great, and duin, a man. Morduin, a chief, a warrior.

Martin is an extremely common name throughout Ireland, and may be of English, Scottish or Gaelic origin. The Gaelic clan name comes from “Mac Giolla Mhártain”, which means ‘Devotee of Saint Martin’, similarly the Scots Gaelic name was “Mac Gille Mhártainn”. There are also Martins who were of English origin, and came to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion to establish themselves as one of the fourteen tribes of Galway. The name is now thirty-eighth most numerous in Ireland, and is most common in the western province of Connacht.

Generally, it is agreed and conceded that the organization of the surname, as we know it today, can be ascribed to the Norman race about 1120. The inspiration for this monumental event was not a whimsical cultural or spiritual happening, is was an economic necessity.And if you're going to consider "surnames"THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN, throughout most of Europe. And it began with the Normans!

Martin Immigrants

Martin and the Norman Connections:

The word “Norman” is in itself a Misnomer, because it does not describe a people, but a mixing of two peoples. A “Norman” simply means “North Man” A Norman; however, is a cross between a Viking and a Celt. The Celtic People at the time were spread out over what we now know as Europe and they readily mixed with the Scandinavian adventurers.

What is very interesting to note is that invaders and conquerors normally bring religion and language with them when they settle. The Vikings and the subsequent Norman offspring did neither. They were fully absorbed in all aspects of the native culture.

Consequently, there are areas of Norman settlement in every country in Europe and beyond.

Martins are Normans, regardless of the country. There is evidence that a Martin was a general for William the Conquerer, and before. Though many have adopted the Martin surname for various reasons, genetic Martins are warriors, now and throughout history.

Geoffrey Malaterra characterized the Normans as"specially marked by cunning, despising their own fortune in the hope of winning a greater one, eager after both gain and dominion, given to imitation of all kinds, holding a certain mean between lavishness and greediness, that is, perhaps uniting, as they certainly did, these two seemingly opposite qualities. Their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the very boys were orators, a race altogether unbridled unless held firmly down by the yoke of justice. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war."

Generally, it is agreed and conceded that the organization of the surname, as we know it today, can be ascribed to the Norman race about 1120. The inspiration for this monumental event was not a whimsical cultural or spiritual happening, is was an economic necessity.And if you're going to consider "surnames"THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN, throughout most of Europe. This is not an attempt to justify, excuse, criticize, praise or condemn the Norman race. It is a study of surname origins.

The Normans were primarily of Viking origin, descended from Duke Rollo and his Viking pirates, Rollo being a one time Jarl or Earl of Orkney who had been kicked out of northern Norway by the King. Rollo landed in northern France and claimed a chunk. From the mid 10th century, this new and ambitious race ravaged all Europe down to the tip of Sicily, quickly. thoroughly and effectively, despite (or because of) having been converted to Christianity. The powerful land hungry Normans spread themselves thinly but with great determination and ruthlessness. This was a feudal society. Family possessions, land acquisitions, required and acquired an urgently needed identity tag for posterity, a little more sophisticated than Tyson the Terrible, an actual Norman name of great renown, as we shall see. Heritable family ownership and dynasty continuity was paramount, and became the prime motivation for the surname, a tag which followed its own set of crude rules from its inception, and the protocols changed, became more refined, adapted on the fly. These emerging social, quasi legal rules were vital to domain ownership in this exploding feudal empire.

Martin and the Norman Connections

From: http://www.genealogyweb.com/Origin.htm

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