JANET MARSHALL

Originally a diminutive of Jane, already in common use in the Middle English period. It remained in use in Scotland and in some parts of England well into the 17th century and was revived at the end of the 19th century to much more widespread use, while still retaining its popularity in Scotland. Since the 1960s, however, it has rather gone out of fashion in Britain.

English and Scottish: status name or occupational name from Middle English, Old French maresc(h)al ‘marshal’. The term is of Germanic origin (compare Old High German marah ‘horse’, ‘mare’ + scalc ‘servant’). Originally it denoted a man who looked after horses, but by the heyday of medieval surname formation it denoted on the one hand one of the most important servants in a great household (in the royal household a high official of state, one with military responsibilities), and on the other a humble shoeing smith or farrier. It was also an occupational name for a medieval court officer responsible for the custody of prisoners. An even wider range of meanings is found in some other languages: compare for example Polish Marszałek (see Marszalek). The surname is also borne by Jews, presumably as an Americanized form of one or more likesounding Jewish surnames.