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Origin / History of the Goodman Name

This is a respected Anglo-Scottish surname which has three possible origins.  Firstly, it may be a status name to describe the head of a household, and as such it derives from the Olde English word ‘god’ meaning good, and ‘-man’, a term used in a transferred sense to indicate ‘head of’. Secondly and especially in Scotland, the name described a landowner, a person who held his land not directly from the crown, but from a nobleman authorised so to do, for example - by the king.  Finally, it may be of pre-7^th Century Anglo-Saxon origin, and if so it derives from the personal name ‘Guethmund’.  This name was composed of the elements ‘gueth’ meaning battle, plus ‘mund’ protection, and was one of a range of similar names which extolled the virtues of war and authority.  The surname dates back to the early 12^th Century, and recordings of the spelling forms include Godman, Goddman, Goodman, Goudman, and Gutman.  The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Asteelinus Godeman, in 1115, in the ‘Book of Winton’, Hampshire.  In 1561 in an early surviving church registers of St James Clerkenwell, London the marriage of a Thomas Goodman to a Parnell Dewey is recorded.  

Coat of Arms / Crest
A Coat of Arms is bestowed upon individuals, not families.  They are not transferable, but may be handed down and derived by family members. 

The Goodman family has a coat of arms which has the blazon of per pale black and ermine, a silver two headed eagle displayed.  However, it is not claimed this Coat of Arms is connected to our family.

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