This picturesque name is of German, Ashkenazic origin and is a dialectal variant of "Lustig", used as a nickname surname for a person of a cheerful disposition and derived from the German "lustig", merry and carefree, which is a derivative of "lust", enjoyment, or pleasure. The name in its present form is also found in Northern Ireland, although it is generally anglicized as Leslie, through a corruption of Lusty to Lasty or Losty. The Irish Gaelic form is "O' Coiste", (which was Gaelicized phonetically) and appears as such in medieval Irish Records e.g., "the Annals of Loch Ce", which mention one John O' Loisde, abbot of Assaroe, Co. Donegal. Records show that a family of this name settled in Gloucestershire in the 16th and amongst the sample recordings in that county are, the marriages between Issabel Lusty and John Milmay on April 27th 1563 in Thornbury and Joane Lusty and Tomas Poole on October 2nd 1572 at Woodchester. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Lusty (witnessed daughter's christening), which was dated May 12th 1518, King's Stanley, Gloucestershire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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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