Godan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Godan family

The surname Godan was first found in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273, where the following are listed as both a forename and a surname: Godin de Bech, Cambridgeshire; Godun le Bere, Cambridgeshire; Roger Godin, Cambridgeshire; William Godin, Oxfordshire; John filius Goding, Huntingdonshire; Alice Goding, Cambridgeshire; and Alice Godon, Oxfordshire. 1

The same rolls include Godun le Bere in Cheshire. Later Philip Guodun, Guodin was listed in the Assize Rolls of Somerset in 1280. 2

The name is derived from "God or good. Saxon, and win, conqueror, that is, a conqueror in God, converted or victorious in God." 3

Early records also listed the name in its Latin form. The Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I listed Gaudinus de Albo Monast, 10 Henry III (during the tenth year of King Henry III's reign) and the Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III listed Gaudinus de Aseby, Lincolnshire, 20 Edward I (during the twentieth year of King Edward I's reign.) 4

"Godden is an ancient Kent surname. The vicar of Reculver in 1663 was thus named, and in Folkestone church there is, or was, a memorial to a Godden of the date of 1636. The Goddens held the manor of Leyborne and much other property in the county during the 16th. century; and back in the 14th century we find a family of De Godden holding the manor of Godden in Tenterden parish, where the surname yet remains. This is in fact an early English surname, being represented in the forms of Godin and Goding in the adjacent county of Sussex during the 13th century." 5

Early History of the Godan family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Godan research. Another 132 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1455, 1487, 1510, 1548, 1600, 1624, 1661, 1678 and 1688 are included under the topic Early Godan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Godan Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Godden, Goden, Kodden, Goddings, Godding, Goddin and many more.

Early Notables of the Godan family

Distinguished members of the family include Thomas Godden, (1624-1688) born Thomas Tylden, an English courtier implicated in the Titus Oates plot. He was the son of William Tylden, gentleman, of Dartford, Kent and was born at Addington in that county in 1624, and educated at a private school kept by Mr. Gill in Holborn. "In 1661 he was appointed chaplain and preceptor to the Princess Catharine of Braganza, the destined consort of Charles II, and the year following he accompanied her to England, and had apartments assigned to him in the palace of Somerset House. In 1678 Godden was accused of...
Another 112 words (8 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Godan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Godan family

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: the name represented in many forms and recorded from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands..

Citations +

Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Arthur, William , An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. London: 1857. Print
Testa de Nevill or "Liber Feodorum" or "Book of Fees," thought to have been written by Ralph de Nevill, for King John (1199–1216)
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.