Recorded as Goldie, Goldney and Goldingay, and probably others, this is an English surname. It has several possibly origins. It may be locational from some place which translates as 'Gold's Island' with Gold being an early pre 7th century personal name. However if this is the case then we have a 'lost' medieval village as no such place has been found in any of the known gazetters of the British Isles for the past three centuries. A second possible origin is occupational. If so this would be someone who worked in gold, such as a jeweller or gilder. Another possible origin is a nickname for a person with an unusual eye pigmentation such as gold flecks in the iris. The earliest known recording as shown below does have the translation of 'Golden Eye', so perhaps this is the real explanation. Examples of the surname recording taken at random include Dorothy Goldney who married John Ballentine at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, London, on October 6th 1713, and John Goldingey who was a witness at St Dunstan's in the East, Stepney, on March 31st 1787. The Author John Goldie (1717 - 1809) published "The Essay on Various Subjects, Moral and Divine", which became known as "Goldies Bible". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Goldeneghe. This was dated 1345, in the register of rolls known as the City of London Calendar of Letter Books, during the reign of King Edward IIIrd of England, 1327 - 1377. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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