Thorsten
male given name
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), Þórsteinn Eiríksson (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.
“Thorsten” enters the record as male given name. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thorsten, male and given can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Thorsten” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Thorsten, male and given provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19688775. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1140.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Thorsten”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Thorsten primary sources, Thorsten archive and Thorsten research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thorsten”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Thorsten” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.