This interesting surname was originally recorded almost wholly in East Anglia, where it was introduced from Brittany by the Norman Invaders of 1066. The name is job descriptive in most instances and is a developed form of the Breton-Gaelic "Gobha" - translating as "the Smith". The name can occasionally be a similar development, but from the Old English (Welsh) "Coch" and translating as "the red haired person", probably a slighting or ironic reference by the Olde English inhabitants to one of the Anglo-Saxon 8th Century Invaders. The surname development from the 13th Century includes "John Guch" recorded in the County Pipe Rolls of Essex in 1327, William Goch (also spelt Gouche) recorded in the State Papers of Henry V111 (1509 - 1547) for the year 1509 in London, and Thomas Goughe, found in the Westmoreland Pipe Rolls of 1576. A notable namebearer was Sir Daniel Gooch, (1816 - 1889), railway pioneer and inventor, who designed the best broad-gauge engines, and invented "the suspended link motion with shifting radius link" in 1843. He was created baronet in 1866 for inauguration of telegraphic communication with America. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Gooch, which was dated 1374, witness at the Colchester Assize Court, Essex, during the reign of King Edward 111, "the Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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