Find out how popular the last name Godwin is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Godwin.

Godwin, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Godwin surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Godwin in America

Godwin is the 1583rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Godwin surname appeared 22,628 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 8 people would have the surname Godwin.

We can also compare 2010 data for Godwin to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Godwin

The surname Godwin is of Old English origin, derived from the personal name Godwine, which means "friend of God" or "divine friend." It is believed to have originated in the 9th or 10th century in the counties of Somerset and Dorset in southwestern England.

One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Godwine, Earl of Wessex, who lived from around 990 to 1053. He was a powerful Anglo-Saxon nobleman and the father of King Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England before the Norman Conquest.

The name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of land ownership and population in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. Several individuals with the surname Godwin or variations such as Godwine and Godwyne are recorded in this historic document.

Another notable bearer of the name was Thomas Godwin, a 16th-century English bishop and theologian, who lived from around 1517 to 1590. He served as Bishop of Bath and Wells and was an influential figure in the English Reformation.

In the 17th century, Mary Godwin, later known as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was born in 1797. She was an English novelist and is best known as the author of the iconic novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus."

William Godwin, born in 1756 and died in 1836, was a renowned English philosopher, political theorist, and novelist. He was an influential figure in the Romantic period and is considered one of the founders of philosophical anarchism.

During the 19th century, Parke Godwin, an American journalist and author, lived from 1816 to 1904. He is best known for his biographies of prominent figures such as William Cullen Bryant and his historical novels set during the American Revolution.

The surname Godwin has also been associated with various place names in England, such as Godwin's Croft, Godwinscroft, and Godwinstre, which may have influenced the surname's development and spread across different regions.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Godwin

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Godwin.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Godwin was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Godwin has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Godwin was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Godwin, please contact us.

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