First found in Kent, Sussex and Wiltshire, where the name God was found in the Domesday Book. Other early records include Gilbert le Gode in the Curia Regis Rolls for Berkshire in 1212; Robert Gode in the Assize Rolls of Gloucester of 1221; and Thomas le Goude in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex of 1327.

To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Goode were among those contributors: John Goad, age 18, who came to Virginia in 1635; Thomas Goad, age 15, who arrived in Boston Massachusetts in 1635; Robert Good, who settled in Massachusetts in 1646.

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