| Meaning | Son of Maarten / Of Saint Martin |
| Language | Dutch |
| Pronunciation | MAR-tens |
| Distribution | Common across the Netherlands and Belgium, with strong concentration in the southern provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, and in Flemish Belgium, where the name also appears as Maertens. |
A patronymic surname derived from Maarten — the Dutch form of Martin, itself from the Latin Martinus, meaning 'of Mars,' the Roman god of war. The name became widespread through the enormous influence of Saint Martin of Tours (316–397 AD), the Roman soldier who became Bishop of Tours and one of the most venerated saints of medieval Europe. His feast day on November 11 — Sint-Maartensdag — was one of the most celebrated in the Dutch calendar, and the name Martin and its Dutch variants were given to children born around that date.
Common across the Netherlands and Belgium, with strong concentration in the southern provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, and in Flemish Belgium, where the name also appears as Maertens.
Pieter Aertsen (Lange Pier, c. 1508–1575), Flemish painter — his surname Aertsen derives from the same root. Also: the Martens family of Ghent, prominent in 16th-century Flemish textile trade.
Martens and variant spellings (Maertens, Martins, Mertens) are common in the southern provincial archives of North Brabant, Zeeland, and Limburg, as well as in Belgian Flemish archives. The Rijksarchief in Antwerp holds extensive records for cross-border Flemish-Dutch families.
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