That this unusual surname is locational and from the Sussex-Kent region seems to be the only absolute certainties as to its origin. It is relatively well recorded from the time of Henry V111, and the spellings have always been consistent at Lustede, which seems to have 'died out' before the end of the 16th century, Lusted, and the much rarer 'Lustead'. We believe that the name derived from a single farm or tiny hamlet probably called originally 'Luts-stede', and apparently on the Kent-Sussex border. It is not recorded in the lost village list of the Historical Monument Commission although this in itself is not unusual, and it probably 'disappeared' as a result of changes in farming methods during the late Middle Ages. There are known to be at least five thousand surnames which derive from now lost and unrecorded places in Britain. The name means 'the farm of Luts', with Luts being an ancient Nordic personal name. Early examples of the surname recording include Samuel Lusted, who married Mary Sharpye at Cranbrook, Kent, on November 7th 1585, Adam Lusted, who married Joan Deintith at Horsham, Sussex, on September 22nd 1590, and Dennis Lusted, who was apparently female, married to John Arderne at St Brides church, Fleet Street, London, on November 8th 1609. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roberte Lustede, which was dated May 13th 1548, who was a witness at Horsham, Sussex, during the reign of King Edward V1, known as 'The boy king', 1547 - 1554. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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