Marvin Miller

(male) Medieval variant of Mervyn, resulting from the regular Middle English change of -er- to -ar-. Modern use may represent a transferred use of the surname derived from this in the Middle Ages. It is popular in the United States, where it is associated in particular with the American singer Marvin Gaye (1939–84) and the boxer Marvin Hagler (b. 1954).

1. English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term, an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’, reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner). In southern, western, and central England Millward (literally, ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. The American surname has absorbed many cognate surnames from other European languages, for example French Meunier, Dumoulin, Demoulins, and Moulin; German Mueller; Dutch Molenaar; Italian Molinaro; Spanish Molinero; Hungarian Molnár; Slavic Mlinar, etc.