 Upon the baptism he retained his pagan Lithuanian name (which may be reconstructed as *Gāstaŭtas) and passed it on to his descendants; that was a common practice of the rising Lithuanian nobility subsequent to the Christianization of Lithuania.Hence at first such names were used much like patronymics rather than surnames in a modern sense.In Lithuanian the name of the clan is rendered "Goštautai" or "Gostautai" (singular, "Goštautas" or "Gostautas"); in Polish language the forms "Gastold" or "Gasztołd" are used.