Hey, i just stumbled upon this site i am a Baptiste from Grenada. The Baptiste surname is french and derived from the distinguishing epithet of St. John the Baptist, who baptized people, including Jesus Christ, in the river Jordan (Mark 1:9), and was later beheaded by Herod. The name is from Latin Baptista (Greek baptistes, a derivative of the verb baptizein ‘to dip in liquid’, ‘to baptize’).
I was once told by another Baptiste family in St.Patrick (to whom i'm surpossed to be related, not sure) that the surname entered Grenada from a family of brothers during the colonial days.These brothers lived in different areas in Grenada including St.Patrick's St.Davids and elsewere i'm not sure. The Baptiste family is big and is related to the Alexis and Noel families among others. The surname has also many variations in spellings. My surname came from my father's side and if i'm correct his gran or great gran father was Spanish, i know is different from the french origen but that can be possible since we had many settlers on the island including the french the spanish and the english.
The following site has a more ancestral info on the surname Baptiste and its Family crest hope it helps.
http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/baptist-family-cres...