This is dismissed as "groundless" by another historian, Ștefan S. Gorovei, who notes that Maria's blood links with the Palaiologos and the Byzantine branch of the Asenids were likely strong. She is mentioned in the "Gustynskaia Chronicle" as cousins ("second sisters") with Sophia Palaiologina of Muscovy. Through this connection, she was probably a niece of Trebizond's reigning couple, Emperor David and Empress Maria. Historians such as A. D. Xenopol, Orest Tafrali, and Constantin Gane also held the belief that Maria was a Komnenid. The notion was preserved in later academia by Răzvan Theodorescu, who sees Maria as having "the blood of Greek "basileis", Komnenes and Palaiologoi". According to Octavean-Radu Ivan, she "had tight connections" with the Komnenids through the Trebizond dynasty. Beyond his being a Prince of Theodoro, her father's exact identity is disputed among historians. According to Aurelian Sacerdoțeanu, such mentions refer to Olubei, son of Alexios I. Bozhilov describes Maria as the daughter of either Olubei or his direct predecessor John, who was married to a Maria Tzamplakina Palaiologina Asanina. Similarly, genealogist Marcel Romanescu lists her as the daughter of "John Olubei" and "Maria Asen Palaiologos", and Xenopol simply as Oludbei's daughter. Gane refers to "Maria's father, Olobei Comnen". Alexander Vasiliev sees her as a sister of Isaac, who was probably Olubei's son, and of Alexios II. A more skeptical view was offered in 1981 by historian D. Năstase, who believed that Maria was the daughter of a lesser Byzantine refugee in the Republic of Venice, Zuan Tzamplakon "Palaiologos". Her "imperial ascendancy, real or fake, was nonetheless Byzantine." According to Gorovei, Tzamplakon was in reality one of Maria's uncles, and himself not a full member of the Palaiologos clan. Maria of Mangup's parents left for Trebizond in 1446 or 1447, which leaves her apparent presence in Mangup until her move to Suceava and marriage unexplained.