Marcum
A surname likely developed as a variant spelling of Markham, ultimately tied to the personal name Mark.
The #2,244 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,004 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Marcum is generally understood as a variant of Markham, a surname formed from the personal name Mark plus the Old English place-name element -ham, meaning "homestead" or "village." In this line of development, the name would originally have meant "Mark's homestead" or referred to someone from a place called Markham. The spelling Marcum reflects later regional or phonetic variation rather than a separate root of its own.
History
The historical excerpts link Marcum with Markham, suggesting that writers treated it as a variant form rather than an independent surname. In the United States, Marcum is especially familiar as a southern and Appalachian surname, where spelling variation was common in family records. Its modern distribution likely reflects both English ancestry and later American spelling stability.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because older record-keepers often wrote names as they heard them, Marcum and Markum can appear in the same family line as Markham.
From the historical record
“0 mA|iCACAin, Markahan, Mar- kan ; Markham, Marcum, &c ; Ryder. 0 mAticAij, Markey ; Ryder, 6 tTiAjiAnnAin. O niAtiriAin,”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames