GUY MARTIN

From an Old French name, of Germanic (Frankish) origin, originally a short form of a compound name starting with witu ‘wood’ or wīt ‘wide’. This was adopted by the Normans and introduced by them to England. In Old French initial w- regularly became gu-. The usual Norman forms of the name were Gy or Guido. In medieval Latin the same name is found as Wido. It was a popular name among the Normans, enhanced no doubt by the romance of Guy of Warwick, recounting the exploits of a folk hero of the Crusades.

English, Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, German, Czech, Slovak, Spanish (Martín), Italian (Venice), etc.: from a personal name (Latin Martinus, a derivative of Mars, genitive Martis, the Roman god of fertility and war, whose name may derive ultimately from a root mar ‘gleam’). This was borne by a famous 4th-century saint, Martin of Tours, and consequently became extremely popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. As a North American surname, this form has absorbed many cognates from other European forms.