The Latin name Martinus gave us Martin in medieval English and French. The popularity of this name was then boosted by the cult of the fourth century St Martin of Tours.
In the 16th century the family name Martin was more evenly spread across Cornwall than many other surnames coined from personal names. Moreover, in 1641 it looks to have been more frequently encountered in the east of Cornwall than the west, indicating that the first name had become a surname at a relatively early stage.
The distribution of the surname then underwent a remarkable transition. By the mid-1800s, while still found in the east, it had ramified greatly in the district between Camborne-Redruth and Penryn. The heartland of Cornish mining had also become the heartland of the family name Martin.
Cornish studies resources 