Yes, IMO marble should not be honed. It's too soft.

Our backsplash tiles are 6 x 12 honed crema marfil marble. No swirl marks are visible on the tiles.

I have honed cararra counters and you cannot see any honing marks. I may be wrong but I believe there are various techniques for honing, including manually doing it with a machine and doing it with a mist of chemical. I do know that in my area, many stone warehouses receive honed marble directly from the quarry/finisher (i.e. it comes like that from Italy) and then there is also the option of buying a polished slab and having a fabricator hone it for you.

If I were you I would look at other yards/fabricators for samples. Also: ask the place you got yours. Perhaps they simply hand-honed a chunk to use as a sample, but the slab would be done differently?

I have a honed carrera marble countertop in my bathroom. Absolutely no swirl marks or man made marks of any kind.

In the Stone Information and Advice thread, it specifically says the following.

"Surface finish: The finish - be it polished, honed, flamed antiqued, or brushed, should be even. There should be no spots that have obvious machine marks, scratches, or other man made marks. You can judge by the crystal and vein pattern of the stone if the marks you see are man-made or naturally occurring. It is true that not all minerals will finish evenly and if you look at an angle on a polished slab with a larger crystal pattern, you can clearly see this. Tropic Brown would be a good example here. The black spots will not polish near as shiny as the brown ones and this will be very obvious on an unresined slab when looking at an acute angle against the light. The black specks will show as duller marks. The slab will feel smooth and appear shiny if seen from above, though. This effect will not be as pronounced on a resined slab.

Bottom line when judging the quality of a surface finish: Look for unnatural appearing marks. If there are any on the face of the slab, it is not desirable. They might well be on the extreme edges, but this is normal and a result of the slab manufacturing process. "

You should not see any swirly marks in honed marble (or granite, for that matter). If its honed properly, using the right kind of equipment, you should have a smooth, soft surface with no veins or marks whatsoever. (And, IMHO, I love the look of honed marble--tired of all the shiny, shiny polished granite in kitchens.)