This Danish-Viking pre 8th Century personal name "Thorsteinn" which translates as "Thors stone" is the origin of this surname of many variant spellings. The name was particularly popular with the invading Normans of 1066 and there are several examples quoted in the 1086 Domesday Book from all over England. The following period to the end of the 14th Century saw the gradual change into the surname, and these include the following examples; John Turstein in the Fines Court of Somerset (1250), William Thurstan, a witness at the Assize Court of Somerset in 1278, John Tuteing in the Yorkshire Friary Rolls of 1641, John Tueton appears in the Register of the Parish church of Rothwell, North Leeds in 1653, whilst John Tutin also appears in the Yorkshire Friary Rolls for 1692. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Wimer Turstan, which was dated 1221, The Annals of the Abbey of Ely, Suffolk, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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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