Given name & surname · also English

Goodwin

“a beloved friend”

Goodwin is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “a beloved friend.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

One English interpretation is “a beloved friend.”

Where it comes from

An origin associated with this spelling is Old English.

How it developed

From Old English gōd (“good”).

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1911. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Goodwin through the years

Babies since 1880
256
256 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year
1918
18 babies
2025
0
Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
0102030192019401960198020002025Highest share 19110.0
Goodwin in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1911–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 2006. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 18 in 1918. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 221 as a first name in 2020; 68,963 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Goodwin’s family of names

Goodwin has a related form in Goodwen. Goodwin has a related form in Goodwenn. Goodwin has a related form in Goodwenne.

Walk Goodwin’s family in the name graph

GoodwinGoodwynGoodwynneGoodwynnGoodwenneGoodwennGoodwenGoodwinneGoodwinnGoodwine

The ring: nicknames and forms.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 9

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

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See also 1

Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.

People named Goodwin

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Goodwin, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Old English · Surname-style

Osborn

“a bear of God”

12Very rareEasing

>99% boys

English · Surname-style

Winthrop

“from the friendly village”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Old English · Surname-style

Goddard

“one who is divinely firm”

No U.S. birth series

77% boys · 23% girls

English · Surname-style

Chauncey

“an office holder; keeper of records” · “having good fortune”

24RareEasing

>99% boys

English · Surname-style

Nelson

“the son of Neil; the son of a champion”

52UncommonEasing

99% boys · 1% girls

English · Surname-style

Curtis

“one who is courteous; polite”

49UncommonCooling

>99% boys

English · Surname-style

Jefferson

“son of JEFFREY” · “the son of Jeffrey”

52UncommonSteady

>99% boys

English · Surname-style

Tanner

“one who tans hides” · “one who makes leather”

61FamiliarCooling

95% boys · 5% girls

Sibling ideas

Names that share Goodwin’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Goodwin

A sister for Goodwin