This is an early medieval English name, with two possible origins, the first being from a nickname for a "good" person, someone pious, generous and respected, no doubt as well as the more usually applied nickname for a well behaved child. There are many modern surnames that derive from medieval nicknames using "good" as the first element, such as "Goodbody" and "Goodfellow". The derivation for this source is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "god", good, in Middle English "gode". The second source for the surname is from a medieval personal name, either "Goda", a man's name, or "Gode", a woman's. There are a number of variants of the surname ranging from Good, Goode and Goude to Gudd and Gude, Gudde. Recordings of the surname from the London Church Registers include, the marriage of Henrie Goode and Elizabeth Harrison, on July 14th 1555, at St. Mildred Poultry with St. Mary Colechurch, and the christening of John, son of Thomas Goode, on November 23rd 1562, at Christchurch, Greyfriars, Newgate. One Thomas Good, of Sarum (Salisbury), was an early emigrant to America; at the age of 24 yrs., he left Southampton on the "Bevis" in May 1638, bound for New England. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert le Gode, which was dated 1213, in the "Curia Regis Rolls of Berkshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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