This unusual name, found also as Upston, is an English locational name from "Ubbeston" in Suffolk. The placename is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Upbestuna" and by 1206 in the Fines Court of Suffolk as "Ubbeston". The first element is from the Old Norse and Old Danish personal name "Ubbi" or "Ubbe" and the second element from the Old English pre 7th Century word "tun", meaning an enclosed homestead, later, a town or village. Locational names were usually given to the lord of the manor and to the local inhabitants and especially to those who left their original homes and went to live or work in another village or town. One John Upston is recorded in the Suffolk Subsidy Rolls of 1524. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Ubbeston. which was dated 1279, The Suffolk Hundred Rolls. during the reign of King Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots,1272 - 1307. 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.