This interesting name is of early medieval English origin, and derives from a medieval given name, recorded as "Goding" in circa 1113, which represents an unusual survival of an Old English pre 7th Century personal name, "Goda"; unusual because most Anglo-Saxon names were lost after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the introduction of French names. The given name Goda derived from the Old English "god", good, was in part a byname and in part a short form of various compound names having "god" as the first element, such as "Goddaeg", translating as "Good-day", and "Godwine", meaning "Good-friend". The surname Gooding can also derive from a patronymic form of the name "Good", and can be found as Gooding(e), Godding, Goodings and Goding. Among the recordings of the name is London is that of the marriage of John Gooding and Judith Mouse at St. Vedast, Foster Lane, on July 20th 1654. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Goding, which was dated 1185, in the "Records of the Templars in England", (Essex), during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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