Martin surname meaning

Martin began as a given name—Latin Martinus, tied to Mars and made hugely popular by Saint Martin of Tours—and then stuck as a hereditary surname across English, French, and many other European languages.

As a family name it still belongs in the parent's-name bucket: it points to an ancestor called Martin, not to a job. Spanish Martínez ("son of Martín") is the explicit -ez twin; plain Martin is the form that kept the given name itself. Irish lines may also reflect Ó Mártain with the same Martin root.