This interesting name originated as a nickname for one skilled in manual acts. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'god' meaning 'good', plus 'hand', a hand, and the surname is first recorded towards the end of the 11th Century, (see below). One, Henry Goudenhond recorded in the 1334 'Subsidy Rolls of Sussex' was, no doubt, a dexterous person, his name being a contraction of the phrase 'good in the hand'. The name is particularly well recorded in London Church registers from the mid 16th Century. On November 26th 1580 Francis Goodhand and Joan King were married in St. Margarets Lothbury, and on October 6th 1611 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Goodhand, was christened in St. Giles Cripplegate. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aluric Godhand, which was dated circa 1095, 'Records of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk', during the reign of King William II, Rufus, 1087 - 1100. 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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