# Goody (surname)

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

A surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 722 |
| US rank (2010) | 31,960 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 427,625 people |
| Change since 2000 | -1.1% (730 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Goodey |

## Etymology

From Middle English Godeve (female given name), from Old English Godġifu (female given name), from god + ġifu. Doublet of Godiva.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Goody 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) | 80% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 12% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 5.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Goody in the United Kingdom.

## People named Goody

- Jack Goody, British anthropologist (1919-2015)

## Similar surnames

Good, Goode, Godoy, Goad, Goto, Goudy, Gowdy, Goda, Goodhue, Gaddy, Guido, Gott.

## 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.