This unusual and interesting surname is an Italian diminutive of the personal name Marcus, an old Roman name of uncertain etymology but it may have some connection with the given name Mars, the Roman god of was and fertility, itself possibly deriving from "mar" meaning "gleam". The surname date's back to the late 12th Century (see below). Further recordings include one Philip Marc (1209) "The Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire", and Philip Markes (1288), witness, "The Court Rolls of the Abbey of Ransey and of the Honor of Clare, Cambridgeshire". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Marchelli, Marchioli, Marchini, Marcolini etc.. One, Mary Sophia Soudani Marcolini married Keith Ross Cockburn Hood, at St. Luke, Chsehire, on May 6th 1875. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robeetus Marcus, which was dated 1148 - "Liber Wintoniensis, Hampshire", during the reign of King Stephen, "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.