Origin/meaning of name MARX

[John Marx]

My great grandfather Johann Marx came from St.Wendel in the SAAR
in the 1880s. The family was from the vicinity of Innsbruck
Austria until the mid-1600s. Can anyone tell me if there is
any particular meaning or significance to the name MARX? Any help
appreciated.

[W. Fred Rump]

marg...@opus.temple.edu () writes:

>>The name is from the Apostle St Mark.

>Are there any other possibilities? There are a lot of Jewish
>Marxes.

But many more German ones. Somehow we need to remember that most surnames
started as given names and Markus was a very popular one at that. I don't know
that much about the origin of so-called Jewish names but I assume that given
names were not all that different and that these later turned into surnames. I
have long lines of Marx and Simon names of origin in the farmlands of the very
Catholic Oldenburger Muensterland. They probably had never even heard of
Judaism in their time. The names are rather common.

Fred

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W. Fred Rump
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