Sebastian
A name from the Latin and Greek tradition meaning “revered” or “venerable,” ultimately tied to the saint’s name Sebastian.
The #2,586 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 22,158 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Sebastian is a learned surname taken from the given name Sebastianus, the Latin form of the Greek name Sebastianos. In the older scholarship, this was linked with Greek sebastos, meaning “venerable,” “revered,” or “majestic,” the same sense conveyed by the Roman honorific Augustus. As a surname, it usually began as a baptismal or patronymic name, referring to someone named after St. Sebastian.
History
The surname is comparatively uncommon in Britain in the older record, but it appears in forms such as Bastian, Bastin, Bastien, and Bastion, all treated as shortened or modified descendants of Sebastian. These shortened forms were noted especially in Cornwall and the south-west of England. The name spread more widely through Christian naming from the cult of St. Sebastian and through later migration and spelling variation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers often grouped Bastian-type surnames under Sebastian, showing how strongly pet forms could drift away from the original saint’s name.
From the historical record
“Cp. Seward and Siward. SEBASTIAN (A.-Lat.-Gr.) August, Rever- enced [Lat. Sebastian-US, ■ Gr. Se/Soo-TcSi (Sebastds), a rendering of the Lat. Augustus; Gr. o-^^os, awe, reverence] SEBBORN = SIborne, q.v. SEBLEY = Sibley, q.v. SEBRIGHT (Eng.) i the A.-Sax. Sdibe{p)rht = Sea-Bright, i.e. Sea-Glorious [O.E. sds,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)