This surname of ANASTASI was originally an English surname which was derived from the medieval male given name ANSTAYSE, from the Greek ANASTASIS (resurrection). The name was rendered in ancient documents in the Latin form ANASTASIA. Other spellings include ANSTIS, ANSTEYS, ANASTAISE, ANASTAY, NASTASI, NASTAGI, NASTI, STASSI, ANSTEEL, STASSINO and NASTIC. It was not until the 10th century that modern hereditary surnames first developed, and the use of fixed names spread, first to France, and then England, then to Germany and all of Europe. In these parts of Europe, the individual man was becoming more important, commerce was increasing and the exact identification of each man was becoming a necessity. Even today however, the Church does not recognise surnames. Baptisms and marriages are performed through use of the Christian name alone. Thus hereditary names as we know them today developed gradually during the 11th to the 15th century in the various European countries. Grand Duchess ANASTASIA Nikolaievna Romanov (1901?-1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, and believed to have perished when the Romanov Family were executed by the Bolsheviks in a cellar in Ekaterinburg on 19th July 1918. Various people have claimed to be ANASTASIA, especially Mrs Anna Anderson Manahan, who died in Virginia, USA in 1984 at the age of 82. She had been rescued from a suicide attempt in a Berlin canal in 1918, and for more than 30 years fought unsuccessfully to establish her identity as ANASTASIA, living under the name of Anna Anderson; most of the surviving members and friends of the Romanov family were sceptical or downright hostile. In 1968 she went to the USA and married an American former history lecturer, Dr. John Manahan. In the Middle Ages the Herald (old French herault) was an officer whose duty it was to proclaim war or peace, carry challenges to battle and messages between sovereigns; nowadays war or peace is still proclaimed by the heralds, but their chief duty as court functionaries is to superintend state ceremonies, such as coronations, installations, and to grant arms. Edward III (1327-1377) appointed two heraldic kings-at-arms for south and north, England in 1340. The English College of Heralds was incorporated by Richard III in 1483-84.