Startup Family History

English (Kent): nickname from Middle English sterten stirten sturten (Old English styrtan) ‘(to) start leap jump’ + up(pe) hup hop ‘up’. It might have denoted a messenger or a hasty person or perhaps an ‘upstart’ a sense of start-up first recorded c. 1598.

From 1517 onward, the noun startup stertup startop sturtup ‘kind of high-legged boot worn by rustics’ is also recorded.

However, whether this sense was current in Middle English and therefore a possible source of a nickname is unknown.