This unusual and interesting surname, with variant spellings Bust, Buste, Buest and Beust, recorded in English church registers from the mid 16th Century, originated as a metonymic occupational name for a maker of caskets. The derivation is from "buste", a Medieval English variant of "boist(e)" from the old French "boiste", (modern French "boite"), ultimately from the Medieval Latin "buxida", a box or casket. On January 13th 1560 Richarde Bust and Johane Lyndon were married in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, and on September 26th of that year Henrie, son of John Bust, was christened in Toppesfield, Essex. The marriage of John Buste to Jone Austen took place in Biddenden, Kent on July 1st 1561 and on December 18th 1832 Ann Buest married a Timothy Winship in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire. A Coat of Arms granted to the Bust family depicts a cross moline with four silver lions rampant on a black shield. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Bust, (christening), which was dated May 7th 1556, Alfriston, Sussex, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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