This name is an Anglicized form of the German or Ashkenazic ornamental surname 'Goldwasser', or 'Goldvasser'. The name derives from the German or Yiddish gold', gold, with 'wasser', water, and is one of the very many such compound ornamental names formed with 'gold', such as 'Goldbaum', golden tree, 'Goldbert', golden hill, 'Goldkind', golden child, 'Goldrosen', golden roses, and 'Goldstern', golden star. In England the name is not recorded until the mid 18th Century, where it first appears in an early Anglicized form (see below) as Gouldwater. A later recording shows the original spelling, that of the baptism of Amy, daughter of Hyman and Emma Goldwasser, at St. John the baptist, Shoreditch, London, on August 21st 1864. An early American recording of the name is that of the marriage of Joseph Goldwater and Ellen Blackman on July 2nd 1862 in San Francisco, California. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Mary Gouldwater (christening), which was dated November 7th 1759, St. Paul's, Deptford, during the reign of King George 11, 'The Last Warrior King', 1727-1760. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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