Marius

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Origin: Ancient Roman

Meaning: a Roman family name which could be derived from Latin mas meaning "male" or Latin mare meaning "sea". It could also be derived from Mars, the Roman god of war (the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Ares), a name of uncertain etymology though it's possible that Mars was derived from an older source, perhaps from from Etruscan Maris (the god of fertility and agriculture) of unknown meaning. Mars could also be the contracted form of an older name, Mavors (or Mavort) which could come from Latin verb mah or margh (to cut) and vor (to turn), essentially meaning "turner of the battle".

Mars could also be derived from the same  Proto-Indian-European root as Sanskrit marici meaning "ray of light", or Proto-Indian-European mer meaning "to die". It could also be associated with Latin marceo meaning "to (cause to) wither" and "to (make) shrivel" and Latin marcus meaning "hammer".



Variants:

• Marijus (Lithuanian)
• Marijo (Croatian)
• Mario (Croatian, Italian, Spanish)
• Mariusz (Polish)
• Marios (Greek)
• Mário (Portuguese)
• Marinho (Portuguese diminutive of Mário)

Feminine forms:

• Maria