Vjeruje se da njihovo ime potiče od protogermanskog*markō = granica, pogragrani" (otuda englesko march ili mark , što znači "granica, kao u velškim marševima i kraljevstvu Mercia) + "*mann-" (pl. "*manniz") = "čovjek”[2][3] koji bi bio preveden u latiniziranom obliku kao Markomani.
Schehl, Franz A. W.; Drinkwater, John Frederick (2012). "Marcoman(n)i". u Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (ured.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4izd.). Oxford University Press. ISBN9780191735257. Pristupljeno 26. 1. 2020. Marcoman(n)i... a west German (Suebic) tribe, the name meaning the inhabitants of a border country (‘march’)...
Darvill, Timothy, ured. (2009). "Marcomanni". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (3izd.). Oxford University Press. ISBN9780191727139. Pristupljeno 25. 1. 2020. Marcomanni. ‘Border Men’, a Germanic people...
Fischer, Thomas; Nicholson, Oliver (2018). "Marcomanni". u Nicholson, Oliver (ured.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press,. ISBN9780191744457. Pristupljeno 26. 1. 2020. Marcomanni. Germanic tribe belonging originally to the Elbe cultural grouping...CS1 održavanje: dodatna interpunkcija (link)