Show ContentsMarlar History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The illustrious surname Marlar is classified as a habitation surname, which was originally derived from a place-name, and is one form of surname belonging to a broader group called hereditary surnames. Habitation names were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Topographic names, form the other broad category of surnames that was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree.

Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came. Marlar is a place-name from in Morlaix, in Brittany, a peninsula in the northwest of France. Formerly known as Armorica, a possession of the Roman Empire, this land consists of a plateau with a deeply indented coast and is broken by hills in the west.

Early Origins of the Marlar family

The surname Marlar was first found in Cheshire where they held a family seat from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Marlar family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Marlar research. Another 128 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1132, 1409, 1564, 1733 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Marlar History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Marlar Spelling Variations

Since the Old and Middle English languages lacked definite spelling rules, Breton surnames have many spelling variations. Latin and French, which were the official court languages, were also influential on the spelling of surnames. The spelling of surnames was rarely consistent in medieval times, and scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded rather than adhering to any specific spelling rules. Therefore, it was common to find the same individual referred to with different spellings of their surname in the ancient chronicles. Moreover, a large number of foreign names were brought into England after the Norman Conquest, which accelerated and accentuated the alterations to the spelling of various surnames. The name has been spelled Marley, Marlay, Marly, Maroley and others.

Early Notables of the Marlar family

Another 43 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Marlar Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Marlar Ranking

In the United States, the name Marlar is the 10,872nd most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. [1]

Ireland Migration of the Marlar family to Ireland

Some of the Marlar family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 78 words (6 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Marlar migration to the United States +

Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Marlar, or a variant listed above:

Marlar Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Joseph Marlar, who landed in Virginia in 1663 [2]

Contemporary Notables of the name Marlar (post 1700) +

  • Robin Geoffrey Marlar (1931-2022), English cricketer and cricket journalist who played for Cambridge University before playing for Sussex from 1951 to 1968, Sussex county cricket captain (1955–1959)


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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