Goodacre last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Goodacre

An English surname derived from the Old English "god" and "aecer" meaning a good or fertile piece of land.

Goodacre, 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 Goodacre surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Goodacre in America

Goodacre is the 52267th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Goodacre surname appeared 397 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Goodacre.

We can also compare 2010 data for Goodacre 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.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 52267 57090 -8.82%
Count 397 334 17.24%
Proportion per 100k 0.13 0.12 8.00%

The history of the last name Goodacre

The surname Goodacre is of English origin, deriving from the Old English words "gōd" meaning good and "æcer" meaning field or acre of land. It likely emerged during the medieval period as a name given to someone who owned or lived on a particularly fertile or productive piece of land.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Subsidy Rolls of Staffordshire from 1327, which mentions a John Godacker. The spelling variations at the time included Godacre, Goodaker, and Goodacor, reflecting the regional dialects and inconsistent spelling practices of the era.

In the 16th century, records show the name Goodacre appearing in various parts of England, particularly in the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire. The Hearth Tax Returns of 1670 list several Goodacre households in these areas.

One notable early bearer of the name was William Goodacre, born in Derbyshire around 1620. He was a prominent landowner and served as a local magistrate during the latter part of the 17th century.

Another historical figure with this surname was John Goodacre, a successful merchant and ship owner from Hull, Yorkshire, who lived from 1712 to 1789. He was involved in the lucrative Baltic trade and left a substantial fortune upon his death.

In the 19th century, the Goodacre family had a strong presence in the coal mining industry of Nottinghamshire. Thomas Goodacre (1792-1866) was a prominent mine owner and operator, while his son, also named Thomas (1824-1891), continued the family's involvement in the industry.

Other notable individuals with the Goodacre surname include Sir John Goodacre (1849-1924), a British army officer who served in the Second Boer War and became a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and Reginald Goodacre (1904-1980), a British architect known for his work on several prominent buildings in London.

While the name Goodacre is not among the most common surnames in England, it has a long and storied history, reflecting the country's rich agricultural heritage and the importance of land ownership in past centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Goodacre

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

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 Goodacre was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 78.84% 313
Non-Hispanic Black Only 15.37% 61
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 2.02% 8
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 2.27% 9
Hispanic Origin (S)% (S)

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 Goodacre has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 78.84% 79.94% -1.39%
Black 15.37% 12.28% 22.35%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 2.02% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 2.27% 2.69% -16.94%
Hispanic (S)% 2.69% (S)%

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 Goodacre was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Goodacre last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on August 28, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/goodacre-surname-popularity/.

"Goodacre last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/goodacre-surname-popularity/. Accessed 28 August, 2025

Goodacre last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/goodacre-surname-popularity/.

Search for a name

Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.

Simple as that.