This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: Marat
in reply to a message by Marat
From what I can find it was a surname of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat. What it means in French, I have no idea. Maybe a French expert can help out.However, the name Marat (Марат) became common among the Tatar people after the 1917 revolution, when they began to name their children after various European revolutionaries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatar_name, see section 4).A famous bearer of this name is tennis star Marat Safin. A Soviet Russian sub was also named Marat.
vote up1vote down

Replies

According to Dictionnaire etymologique des noms de famille et premoms de France by Albert Dauzat, the French surname Marat normally indicates one's ancestors came from a place in the Puy-de-Dome area of France. However, in the case of the famous revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat, his name is a "Francization" of the Sardinian surname Mara, as his father was from Sardinia. The revolutionary's family in turn claimed that Mara was originally a surname from Spanish nobility, but Dauzat thinks a Jewish origin is more likely. But in either case he doesn't give an original meaning.
vote up1vote down