Aristide

This most interesting surname is of Old Greek origin, and derives from the popular Greek personal name "Aristeides", meaning "son of the best, son of noble origin". The name itself owes its early popularity and survival to the famous Athenian general and statesman Aristides, known as Aristides the Just (530 - 468 B.C.), who covered himself in glory at the battle of Marathon (490), but was ostracized by his rival Themistocles. He was recalled for the second invasion of Persia and participated in the Greek victories over the Persians at Salamis (480) and Plataea (479), and played a leading role in the formation of the League of Delos. The surname is widely spread in many European countries and beyond. Antonietta, daughter of Rocco Aristippo, was born in 1881 at Catanzaro in Italy, while Lloyd Aristides married Mary H. Shiflett on August 9th 1877 at Randolph in West Virginia, in the United States of America. Andrew Marvell (1621 - 1678), the English poet and satirist, was nicknamed "The British Aristides", and Jules Grevy (1807 - 1891), president of France's Third Republic, was called "The French Aristides", in reference to the original Greek Aristides. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Giacinto Aristi, which was dated December 8th 1834, christened at Palermo, Sicily, during the reign of Emperor Francis 1, Austrian Ruler, 1804 - 1835. 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.