Goody Family History

English:: from the Middle English salutation godne dæie ‘good day’ possibly applied as a nickname for someone who frequently used this greeting. Possibly in some instances from Middle English god(e) day(e) (or dey(e)) ‘good dairy man’ (see Day). Topographic name from Middle English god(e) ‘good’ + hei(e) ‘enclosed plot field’ (Old English gōd + (ge)hæg) for someone who lived ‘(at the) good enclosure’. Compare Goodacre.

Variant of Goodeve from the Middle English female personal name Godyeve Godive Godif (Old English Godgifu Latinized as Godiva). It became confused with another Middle English female personal name Godith (Old English Godgȳth).

Alternatively, Goodeve perhaps occasionally derives from Middle English godwif ‘virtuous woman; mistress of a household’ often used as a courtesy title for married women of relatively humble social status.

From a shortened form of the Middle English female personal name Godith Old English Godgȳth.