A booth was leased to John Best in Edinburgh, 1457 (EBR., I, p. 17). John Best was a skinner in Edinburgh, 1603 (Edinb. Marr. - the only one of the name in this record). Thomas Best was admitted burgess of Aberdeen, 1618 (NSCM., I, p. 120), and Agnes Best is recorded in Jedburgh Forest, 1684 (RPC., 3. ser. X, p. 271). Best occurs in Essex DB. (Ewen, p. 63, 64), and Bardsley says it means" 'the beast', probably not in an uncomplimentary sense," and cites Richard le Beste in county Cambridge, 1273.

The Bests in Ireland are of English stock. The name is probably of Norman origin: though Bardsley does in one of his earlier works suggest the English word best (superlative of good) as an alternative derivation, it is normally derived from the Old-French le beste (the beast — not necessarily in a derogatory sense), though sometimes it is an abbreviation of bester (herdsman). It cannot, however, be placed in the Hiberno-Norman category with Fitzgerald, Burke, Dillon, Roche etc., since its introduction into Ireland dates only from the seventeenth century.

In 1659 Robert Best was one of the 22 principal householders in Highfisher Street, Kinsale — all the 22 names are English except Courcy. In the same year Elias Best was an ensign in one of the Dublin Militia companies. At least six Bests are recorded between 1652 and 1687 in various deeds, wills and marriage licences as persons of substance in Dublin. The earliest reference I have met to the name in Ireland is the will of William Best of Parkgrove, Co. Kilkenny, gentleman, proved in 1640. He was the second son of Richard Best of Ashford, Kent and was either the ancestor or a collateral of the Bests who were prominent in the next century as landed gentry in the adjacent counties of Carlow and Leix.

They continued into the nineteenth century to possess property in Co. Kilkenny, but their principal seats were Dunganstown (the name of which they changed to Bestville), Andreston in Co. Carlow, and Knockbeg which, though actually situated within the borders of Co. Leix (Queen's Co.) is close to the town of Carlow. Their residence, Knockbeg House (prior to the Cromwellian upheaval the property of the Skelton family, who were transplanted as Papists), came into the hands of the Bests towards the end of the seventeenth century. They were related to William and Thomas Molyneux: the latter in his diary (1709) refers to a visit to “cousin Best's at Knockbeg”. Later it passed by marriage to the Maddens and in 1847 it was acquired by Dr. Francis Haly, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, who founded Knockbeg College in that year.

All the available evidence shows that in the eighteenth century the name Best in Ireland was seldom found outside Leinster. It is not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that it appears in appreciable numbers in Ulster. The earliest I have met is 1740: Richard Best, a “Protestant housekeeper”

in the parish of Glendermot, Co. Derry. To-day it is quite numerous in Dublin and it is remarkable that, as recently as 1890, of the 21 Best births registered in that year 19 were in Ulster (mostly in Counties Tyrone and Armagh) while none of them was in Leinster. This, according to the Registrar-General's computation, represents a Best population in Ireland at that time of approximately 950 persons. I may mention, by way of comparison, that a similar total is returned for Brett, Considine, Drennan, Dowdall, Fitzmaurice, Forbes, Lanigan, McErlean, Shanley, Tynan and some others. Notwithstanding the number of people in Ireland called Best it may be regarded as essentially an English name: of the eight included in the Dictionary of National Biography none is Irish.

Dr. Richard Irvine Best (1871-1959) the Gaelic scholar was born in Co. Fermanagh. Sir Robert Wallace Best (1856-1946) was a prominent minister in the first and subsequent parliaments of the Commonwealth of Australia.

(Anglo-French-Latin) Beast (a nickname). [Middle English be(e)st, beste, Old French beste (French bête), Latin bestia, beast] Richard le Beste.-Hundred Rolls First, on the wal was peynted a forest, In which ther dwelleth neither man nor best.

— Chaucer, Cant. Tales, A 197 5-6.

The Irish Bests came from Kent, England and settling in Leinster in the seventeenth century became prominent in Carlow and adjacent counties. SIF 16

(English) Dweller at the sign of the beast; one with the qualities of a beast, probably not in an uncomplimentary sense.

This name has probably no connection with the adjective. In the H. R. it occurs as Le Beste, ' the beast,' a sobriquet; but there is one well-authenticated instance, in which it is a corruption of the Norman Basset. Inf. Stacey Grimaldi, Esq., F.S.A.

An abbreviation of Bessett. From this house derive the Lords Wynford.