Demarcus

Demarcus or DeMarcus is an African-American name first coined in the 1970s. This may have been influenced by the adoption of Demetrius as a name choice. Adding on the “De-“ prefix to masculine names became a widespread trend within the African-American community as evidenced by names like DeAndre, DeAngelo, DeMarcus, DeMarion and DeShawn. “De” is the common Latin word for “of” so DeMarcus could be said to mean “of Marcus”. Marcus is the original Latin form of the name Mark, and it’s one of the oldest, most successful of all ancient Roman forenames. In fact, back in antiquity and the classical era, Marcus was one of only a dozen or so praenomens (i.e., first names) used for boys. In the 2nd century Roman Empire, Marcus Aurelius, considered a philosopher-king and symbolizing much of what was good about Roman civilization, was the last of the “Five Good Emperors”. The etymological origin of the name is not certain. It likely comes from one of two places. The first is Mars, the Roman god of war. The second is from the Latin adjective “mas” meaning “male, virile” which is thematically similar to the war god Mars. In more modern times, Marcus became a favorite among African-Americans, perhaps influenced by pro-Black Nationalist orator Marcus Garvey.