The history of your name

The GODWIN surname in the USA

Frequency Comparisons
Total Rank Frequency % Per million people
United States
United States (Current snapshot) 22,062 1480 0.008 82
United States (1880 census) 3,736 1641 0.007 75
Change since 1880 +18326 +161 +0.001 +7
Other Countries
Australia 1,087 1523 0.007 66
United Kingdom 4,811 1307 0.01 105
Top States for GODWIN by Total
State Total Rank in State Frequency % Per million people
North Carolina 3,380 315 0.042 420
Florida 3,159 606 0.020 198
Alabama 1,963 349 0.044 441
Texas 1,617 1537 0.008 78
Georgia 1,574 676 0.019 192
Top States for GODWIN by Frequency
State Total Rank in State Frequency % Per million people
Alabama 1,963 349 0.044 441
North Carolina 3,380 315 0.042 420
Delaware 222 572 0.028 283
South Carolina 891 730 0.022 222
Florida 3,159 606 0.020 198

Notes

'A figure of zero indicates that we don't have data for this name (usually because it's quite uncommon and our stats don't go down that far). It doesn't mean that there's no-one with that name at all!

For less common surnames, the figures get progressively less reliable the fewer holders of that name there are. This data is aggregated from several public lists, and some stats are interpolated from known values. The margin of error is well over 100% at the rarest end of the table!

For less common surnames, the frequency and "per million" values may be 0 even though there are people with that name. That's because they represent less than one in a million of the population, which ends up as 0 after rounding.

It's possible for a surname to gain in rank and/or total while being less common per million people (or vice versa) as there are now more surnames in the USA as a result of immigration. In mathematical terms, the tail has got longer, with a far larger number of less common surnames.

Figures for top states show firstly the states where most people called GODWIN live. This obviously tends to be biased towards the most populous states. The second set of figures show where people called GODWIN represent the biggest proportion of the population. So, in this case, there are more people called GODWIN in North Carolina than any other state, but you are more likely to find a GODWIN by picking someone at random in Alabama than anywhere else.

Classification and Origin of GODWIN

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Language of origin: English

Ethnic origin: English

Religious origin: Christian

Name derivation: From given name or forename

Data for religion and/or language relates to the culture in which the GODWIN surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the language spoken, or religion practised, by the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Data for ethnic origin relates to the region and country in which the GODWIN surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the ethnicity of the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Ethnic distribution of GODWIN in the USA

Classification Total Percent
Native American/Alaskan 342 1.55
White (Hispanic) 265 1.2
Mixed Race 256 1.16
Asian/Pacific 90 0.41
White (Caucasian) 18,495 83.83
Black/African American 2,614 11.85

Ethnic distribution data shows the number and percentage of people with the GODWIN surname who reported their ethnic background as being in these broad categories in the most recent national census.

Meaning of GODWIN in historical publications

Same as Goodwin or Gooden, derived from God or good, Sax., and win, conqueror, that is, a conqueror in God, converted or victorious in God. "In one of those battles fought between Edmund the Anglo-Saxon, and Canute the Dane, the Danish army being routed and forced to fly, one of their principal captains named Ulf lost his way in the woods. After wandering all night, he met at daybreak a young peasant driving a herd of oxen whom he saluted, and asked his name. 'I am Godwin, the son of Ulfnoth,' said the young peasant, 'and thou art a Dane.' Thus, obliged to confess who he was, Ulf begged the young Saxon to show him the way to the Severn, where the Danish ships were at anchor. 'It is foolish in a Dane,' replied the peasant, 'to expect such a service from a Saxon; and besides, the way is long, and the country people are all in arms.' The Danish chief drew off a gold ring from his finger, and gave it to the shepherd as an inducement to be his guide. The young Saxon looked at it for an instant with great earnestness, and returned it, saying, 'I will take nothing from thee, but I will try to conduct thee.' Leading him to his father's cottage, he concealed him there during the day; when night came on, they made preparations to depart together. As they were going, the old peasant said to Ulf, 'This is my only son, Godwin, who risks his life for thee. He cannot return among his countrymen again; take him, therefore, and present him to thy King, Canute, that he may enter into his service.' The Dane promised, and kept his word. The young Saxon peasant was well received in the Danish camp, and rising from step to step by the force of his talents, he afterward became known over all England as the great Earl Godwin."

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.


GODWIN. A well-known personal name of Teutonic origin. In Domesd. it is very common.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.


Similar names to GODWIN

The following names have similar spellings or pronunciations as GODWIN.

This does not necessarily imply a direct relationship between the names, but may indicate names that could be mistaken for this one when written down or misheard.

Matches are generated automatically by a combination of Soundex, Metaphone and Levenshtein matching.

Potential typos for GODWIN

The following words are slight variants of GODWIN that are likely to be possible typos or misspellings in written material.