This name, with variant spellings, Start, Stert and Sterte is of English locational origin from any of the various places, named with Old English pre 7th Century "steurt" meaning "a tail" or promontory for example "start" (point) Devonshire and Stert (Somerset) which is recorded as "Esturt" in the Domesday Book (1086). In some instances, the name may be topographical for a residence by a promontory or spur of a hill". The surname is first recorded towards the end of the 12th Century (see below). In 1225 one, Walter de la Sterte appears as a witness on the "Assize Rolls for Somerset" and in 1332 John Ate Sturte is recorded in the Subsidy Rolls for Surrey. On July 4th 1540, William Start married Katherine Browne in St. Marylebone, London. George Start was christened on September 10th 1605 in St. James's, Clerkenwell, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Lesturte, which was dated 1168, in the "Pipe Rolls for Devonshire", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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