Where the De Marco surname comes from
De Marco means “of Marco,” that is, “son of Marco.” An ancestor was known as the son of a man called Marco, and that name stayed with the family. Marco comes from the Latin Marcus, one of the most common names among the Romans. In the Middle Ages it spread all over Italy thanks to devotion to Saint Mark the Evangelist. The PDF explains which god the name was tied to, and how the surname was born in the notaries’ registers.
From the Sila to Salento
The heart of the surname is the province of Cosenza. In the Sila there’s a historic building that bears the family’s name, and a family of dialect poets was born nearby. In Salento, instead, a De Marco who grew up in a castle became one of Italy’s great economists. Their stories are in the PDF.
Where the De Marcos live today
De Marco is a surname of the southern mainland. There are about 4,900 families in Italy. Calabria, Apulia and Campania share the lead almost equally, and the strongest center is the province of Cosenza. Many De Marcos also live in Lazio and in the North. Outside Italy there are more of them than in Italy, above all in the Americas. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached are in the PDF.
Variants
The son of Marco took different forms in the South, the Center and the North, with “De,” with “Di” or in the plural. The PDF explains where each one comes from.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| De Marco | Calabria, Apulia, Campania |
| Di Marco | Sicily, Abruzzo, Lazio |
| De Marchi | Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont |
| Demarchi | Piedmont, Friuli, Liguria |
| De Marchis | Lazio |
| Demarco | Apulia, Piedmont, Calabria |
FAQ
What does the surname De Marco mean?
“Son of Marco.” The “De” in front of the name means “of.” In the notaries’ registers the son of a Marco became de Marco, and the little word stayed. Marco comes from the Latin Marcus.
Is De Marco a Calabrian surname?
Yes, but not only. Its heart is Calabria, especially the province of Cosenza, where it’s the fourteenth most common surname. Apulia and Campania, though, count almost as many: the three regions share the lead almost equally.
Are De Marco and Di Marco the same surname?
They mean the same thing, “son of Marco.” In the southern mainland the form De Marco won out; in Sicily, Abruzzo and Lazio Di Marco is more common. In old registers the same family can appear as De Marco, Di Marco or Demarco.
Are all De Marcos related?
No. In the Middle Ages there were countless men named Marco, and the surname arose in many towns of the South, each time from a different Marco. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the De Marco surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t indicate nobility: it comes from a father’s name. Some branches had a title, like the De Viti de Marco, marquises of Casamassella in Salento. Almost all De Marco families, though, never had a coat of arms.
Is there a De Marco family coat of arms?
A coat of arms belonged to one specific branch, in a specific place and time. The De Viti de Marco had their own arms, but they were theirs. No single coat of arms belongs to every De Marco.
