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Gold Family History

Gold Surname Meaning

Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name from German Gold Yiddish gold ‘gold’. In North America it is often a shortened form of one of the many compound artificial names of which Gold is the first element.

English and German: from Middle English go(u)ld or Old English and Old High German gold ‘gold’ applied as a metonymic occupational name for someone who worked in gold i.e. a refiner jeweler or gilder or as a nickname for someone who either had many gold possessions or bright yellow hair.

English: from an Old English personal name Golda (or the feminine Golde) which persisted into the Middle Ages as a personal name.

The name was in part a byname from gold ‘gold’ and in part a short form of various compound names with this first element.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


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You can see how Gold families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Gold family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Gold families were found in USA in 1920. In 1891 there were 479 Gold families living in London. This was about 36% of all the recorded Gold's in United Kingdom. London had the highest population of Gold families in 1891.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Gold surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.

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Census Records

There are 131,000 census records available for the last name Gold. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Gold census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

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Passenger Lists

There are 31,000 immigration records available for the last name Gold. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the UK, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

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Draft Cards

There are 28,000 military records available for the last name Gold. For the veterans among your Gold ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

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