This interesting surname is of English locational origin from "Binstead", a parish and village on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire, "Binsted", a place in north Hampshire near Alton and "Binsted" in Sussex near Arundel, all deriving from the Old English pre-seventh Century elements "bean", bean plus the second element "stede", a place, hence, a place where beans were grown. All of these places were recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, as "Benestede". The name first appears in records in the mid 16th Century, (see below). Sybil, daughter of Richard Bynsted was christened on April 7th 1567, at All Saints, Chicheter in Sussex, while at Chalton in Hamptonshire, John Binstead married Elizabeth Litmen on May 11th 1577. Peter Binstead married Bridget Simons at Brainshot in Hampshire on July 22nd 1604. Mary, daughter of Peter and Martha Binsted was christened at Hambleton, Hampshire on November 25th 1609, and sense Binsted married Germand Goldsmith at Bishops Waltam, Hampshire on September 29th 1623. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Cristofer Bunsted, married Julian Haywod, which was dated August 2, 1563, at Chalton, Hampshire, 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.