'Martu' (modern English usage) originates from the Western Desert languages of Australia, where the word 'martu' is a self-designation meaning 'person' or 'people'.; Earlier and unrelated, 'Martu' (often written 'Mar.tu' or 'Mardu' in cuneiform) originates from Akkadian/Sumerian usage referring to western peoples (the Amorites).

'Martu' entered English in anthropological and ethnographic literature in the 20th century to name the Indigenous group in Western Australia. Separately, the Mesopotamian 'Mar.tu' appears in texts from the 3rd–2nd millennium BCE and passed into later scholarship as 'Martu' or 'Mardu' in translations and studies of ancient Near Eastern sources.

In Australian Western Desert languages, 'martu' originally meant 'person' (a self-designation) and in English it became an ethnonym for that specific Indigenous group; in Mesopotamian contexts, 'Mar.tu' originally meant 'people of the west' and later was used in scholarship to refer to the Amorite groups, a meaning retained in historical discussions.