Markus is the German and Scandinavian spelling of Marcus, one of the oldest Roman given names, derived from the god Mars and usually read as "dedicated to Mars" or "warlike". Saint Mark the Evangelist carried the name into every Christian language. In the United States Markus ranked number 625 in 2000, its best year, dropped out of the top 1000 in 2019 and sits at number 1336 in 2025.