Marshall in my family tree
English and Scots: occupational name from Middle English, Old French maresc(h)al marshal. The term is of Germanic origin (cf. Old High German marah + scalc horse, mare + servant), and was originally applied to a man who looked after horses. By the heyday of surname formation it referred on the one hand to one of the most important servants in every great household (in the royal household an high official of state), and on the other to an humble shoeing smith or farrier. A similar wide range of meanings is found in other languages: for example, in Polish a marszalek can be anything from a field marshal or the chairman of the Polish parliament to the senior servant in an household. The surname is also borne by Jews, presumably as an anglicization of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.
Variants: Marschall; Marskell, Mascall, Maskall, Maskell, Maskill (from Anglo-Norman French forms).
Cognates: Czech: Maršál. Dutch, Flemish: De Maerschlack, Maarschalk, Maryssal. French: Machaut, Marchal, Marchaud, Marchaut, Marchaux, Maréchal, Maréchau, Maréchaux, Maréschal; Marecal, Marécal, Marescot, Marical, Marichal, Marichell, Maricot; Manescal, Manescau, Manesceau, Menescal (by confusion with Seneschal). German: Marschal, Marschalk, Marschall, Marschlich. Italian: Manescalchi, Maniscalchi, Maniscalco (Sicily); Marascalchi, Marescalchi, Marescalco, Maricalchi, Mariscalco (Venetia); Mascalchi (Tuscany). Polish: Marszal.
Diminutives: Czech: Maršálek. French: Marchaudon; Mesclou (Bretagne). German: (of Slavonic origin): Marschallek, Marschollek. Polish: Marszalek.
Marshall or variants was the 57th most common name in England and Wales according to a survey taken by H.M.Treasury in 1944, with a relative frequency of 0.18%.
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