While some of the Germans dwelling in Russia and Ukraine learned the local languages and adoped Slav customs,manyremained Germans,living in German-speaking towns with German names,often under the legal system known as Magdeburg law,which took its name from the German city of Magdeburg.As early as the twelfth century German adventures,merchants and missionaries were active in the Baltic region and Estonia,names which have been long established in these regions.Thus ,by the time that famly names were developing,the German culture and language had been broadly diffused throughout Europe. The German family name Best is classifided as being of personal name origin.According to scholars the oldest and most pervasive type of suename is derived from a given name. Such family names may be derived from a parental first name from the font name of the grandfather or indeed a more remote ancestor of the original bearer of the surname.With regard to the family name Best, it indicates son of Best ,a pet form of the first name Sebastian, which is, in turn, a derivative of the Greek Sebastianos ,meaning revered,venerable, In the middle ages,parents were encouraged to name their children after saints in hope of thus evoking the protection of the particular saint.According to legend,St.Sebastion was a tribune in the Roman imperial army, but was put to death under the Emperor Diacletian for his Christian beliefs.In the fifteenth century,the cult of St. Sabastian was widespread in southern Germany and he was the patron saint of Nurnberg.Variants of the name Best include Beste and Bast.