Marius

Marius is a male given name, a Roman family name, and a modern surname. The name Marius was used by members of the Roman gens Maria. It is thought to be derived from either the Roman war god Mars or from the Latin root mas or maris meaning "male". It may also derive from the Latin word mare meaning "sea", the plural of which is maria. In Christian times, it was syncretized as a masculine form of the unrelated feminine given name Maria, from the Hebrew Miriam, Aramaic variant Mariam, and used alongside it. Today, the name Marius is a common given name in Romania, Norway, and Lithuania. The name is also used in the Philippines, France, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Africa.