Marquis
A surname and given name that likely began as a nickname or title-based byname, referring to a marquis or related aristocratic association.
The #4,065 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 35,338 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is most likely connected with the noble title marquis, borrowed into English from French. In surname use, it may have been applied as a nickname or a status-based byname for someone associated with the title, its prestige, or perhaps a household or place-name connected with it. Some older writers also treated it as a modern baptismal name rather than a hereditary surname in certain areas, especially Yorkshire.
History
Lower explicitly labels MARQUIS as a sobriquet of probably recent origin and links it with place-names such as Marr in Aberdeenshire and a parish in Yorkshire, suggesting a local or associative surname rather than a deep medieval hereditary line. Bardsley, meanwhile, notes Marquis as a modern baptismal name in Yorkshire, tied to the fashion for aristocratic-sounding Christian names like Duke and Earl. The name is therefore historically a bit slippery: it appears both as a surname and, in some records, as a given name or nickname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In 19th-century surname books, Marquis could be discussed alongside Duke and Earl because all three were sometimes used as unexpected given names, especially in Yorkshire.
From the historical record
“MARQUIS. A sobriquet, probably of recent origin. MARR, a district of Aberdeenshire, ■which had its Earls as far back as the XI. century, and still gives the same title to the Erskines, although they have no pos- sessions there. Also a parish in Yorlishire. MARRIAN. See Maryon. MARRINER. See Mariner.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom