Thorsten

Thorsten (Thorstein, Torstein, Torsten) is a Scandinavian given name. The Old Norse name was ''Þórsteinn''. It is a compound of the theonym ''Þór'' (''Thor'') and ''steinn'' "stone", which became ''Thor'' and ''sten'' in Old Danish and Old Swedish.

The name is one of a group of Old Norse names containing the theonym ''Thor'', besides other such as ''Þórarin, Þórhall, Þórkell, Þórfinnr, Þórvald, Þórvarðr, Þórolf'', most of which, however, do not survive as modern names given with any frequency.

The name is attested in medieval Iceland, e.g. Þorsteinn rauður Ólafsson (c. 850 – 880), Þōrsteinn Eirīkssonr (late 10th century), and in literature such as ''Draumr Þorsteins Síðu-Hallssonar''.

The Old English equivalent of the Scandinavian and Norman name is ''Thurstan'', attested after the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century as the name of a medieval archbishop of York (died 1140), of an abbot of Pershore (1080s) and of an abbot of Glastonbury (1090s). The English surname Thurston is presumably derived from this given name. The English given name Dustin is derived from a surname which in origin has been derived in turn from the Norman name ''Tustin'', variant form of ''Turstin'', ''Tostain'', ''Toutain'', etc. themselves from Old Norse given name ''Þorsteinn''.

As a modern given name, Thorsten and Torsten also see some popularity in the English-speaking world and in German-speaking Europe. Provided by Wikipedia