# Godley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/godley/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 2,515 |
| US rank (2010) | 12,362 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 122,762 people |
| Change since 2000 | +0.8% (2,495 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Godlee, Goodleigh |

## Etymology

From the Old English byname Gōda + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Godley in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 63% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 32% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Godley in the United Kingdom.

## People named Godley

- Alexander Godley, British Army general (1867–1957)

## Similar surnames

Goodell, Goodale, Goodloe, Gidley, Goodall, Gately, Goodwill, Goodlow, Gudiel, Gateley.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.