DutchLatin2 syllables
Meaning: of Mars, the Roman god of war.
Maarten
Maarten belongs to a war god and is celebrated with paper lanterns. It is the Dutch Martin, and on 11 November it sends children singing along the streets.
| Origin | Dutch form of Martin, from Latin Martinus |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Of Mars: Martinus is built on the name of the Roman god of war with the suffix -inus, belonging to |
| Pronunciation | MAHR-tuhn — the aa long and open, the final -en reduced to a schwa in ordinary speech |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100; an unremarkable everyday name in the Netherlands and Flanders |
| Variants | Martijn, Marten, Martinus, Martin, Martín, Martino, Marcin |
| Nicknames | Maart, and Tijn, which is now registered as a given name in its own right |
| Feast | 11 November, Sint-Maarten, when Dutch children carry lanterns door to door and sing for sweets |
History & meaning
Martinus is Mars with a suffix attached, so the name means belonging to the war god. Martin of Tours was a conscript in the Roman cavalry when he met a freezing beggar at the gates of Amiens, cut his military cloak in two with his sword and gave half away; that night he dreamed of Christ wearing it. He left the army, became bishop of Tours and died in 397. The Frankish kings kept the surviving half of that cloak as their holiest relic. The Latin for a short cloak was cappella, the priest who guarded it was the cappellanus, and the room built to house it was the capella. English chapel and chaplain both come out of one soldier's torn cloak.
The Dutch have kept his feast. On the evening of 11 November children walk from door to door with lanterns, often made at school out of a hollowed sugar beet, singing short Sint-Maarten songs in exchange for sweets. The saint travelled further than his name usually gets credit for: Columbus sighted an island in the Caribbean on Saint Martin's Day in 1493 and named it accordingly, and Sint Maarten is still split between a Dutch and a French half. Dutch also produced a second descendant of Martinus, Martijn, where the Latin ending survived as -ijn and is said mar-TAYN. That ij is one sound written with two letters, capitalised as a pair, which is why the great inland sea is the IJsselmeer.
Why parents choose it
It is warmer than Martin and unmistakably placed, and the doubled a does that on its own. It also hands a child a festival.
Middle names for Maarten
Two syllables closing on a schwa want a middle with a firm start: Maarten Willem, Maarten Elias, Maarten Otto, Maarten Ruben. The middle names guide has the reasoning.
Famous Maartens
Maarten Tromp broke a Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs in 1639, fought the English through the First Anglo-Dutch War, and was killed by a musket ball off Scheveningen in 1653. Maarten van Heemskerck spent four years in Rome in the 1530s drawing the ruins; his sketchbooks are a primary source for the city before its rebuilding. Maarten 't Hart trained as a biologist and became a much-read Dutch novelist. The Dutch also call the reformer Maarten Luther, which takes getting used to.
Consider instead
Martin is the same name, plainer and already at home in English. Marcus reaches Mars by the shortest route, and Mark does the same in one syllable.