Goode
A surname usually from Middle English “good,” likely first applied as a nickname for a good or worthy person.
The #1,605 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,810 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Goode is generally understood as a nickname surname from Middle English good, meaning “good,” “kind,” or “worthy,” ultimately from Old English gōd. In medieval records it could simply describe a person’s character, though some early writers also noted that similar forms may occasionally reflect other older personal names or surname spellings. The spelling Goode is an old variant of Good.
History
The surname is medieval in origin and appears in English records from at least the 13th and 14th centuries. It survived in several spellings, including Good and Goode, and was later carried to North America and other English-speaking regions. Some 19th-century surname writers treated certain related forms as corruptions of other names, but Goode itself is most straightforwardly explained as a nickname surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname writers often grouped Goode with other “good” surnames such as Goodman, Goodfellow, and Goodenough, showing how common moral nicknames were in medieval naming.
From the historical record
“YI. GOODE. See Good. GOODEN. GOODING. GOODINGE. Corruptions of Godwin. GOODEKOUGII. The original bearer was perhaps a sufliciently worthy fellow, but I think his name had uo reference to_ iiis moral qualities. Knowe is a ycotticism, equivalent to the southerr hiwll, a little round hill, and the prehx ' good '…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Goode
- Matthew Goode (b. 1978)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.