GOFF
Goff is a surname that has long been associated with the British Isles, particularly within Wales and parts of England and Scotland. The name is of Celtic origin and is thought to have arisen from an individual’s given name or as a descriptive nickname given to a person.
In Welsh, the personal name Goff is a variant of Gough, which itself is derived from the word coch, meaning “red.” Accordingly, the surname was originally used as a nickname for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion. This descriptive origin is characteristic of many Welsh surnames that grew out of physical traits.
Other potential roots of the surname have been documented. One theory posits that it comes from the pre‑seventeenth‑century word gobha, or its Cornish and Breton cognates gov and gof, all of which translate as “blacksmith.” This occupation‑based derivation would have been common in the East Anglian region after the Norman Conquest of 1066, when people from Brittany were introduced to parts of England. A further hypothesis suggests that Goff may be a shortened form of the French name Geoffrey, another name that entered the British Isles following the Norman invasion.
The earliest surviving record of the family name appears in the Fines Court rolls of Lincolnshire in 1208, where a Bertram Goffe is mentioned during the reign of King John. Subsequent references include the 17th‑century poet and theologian Stephen Goffe (1605‑1681), who is noted in the university records of Oxford for holding a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1636.
Over the centuries, the surname has been spelled in several variants, including Goffe, Gough, Goeff, and Geoff. These orthographic differences reflect regional pronunciation and the influence of Norman French orthography on English spelling.
By the early modern period, the name had spread beyond its Welsh heartland to other English‑speaking territories. The surname can now be found in records across the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where many bearers are descendants of emigrants who carried the name overseas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
In contemporary usage, Goff remains a recognised surname within the United Kingdom, retaining its historical ties to Welsh linguistic heritage while also reflecting the complex tapestry of cultural influences that have shaped British onomastics. The name is still used both as a family surname and, on occasion, as a given name in modern records, thereby preserving its traditional role in personal identity.
Typical given names associated with the Goff surname
Male
- Andrew
- Anthony
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Richard
- Simon
Female
- Alison
- Christine
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Karen
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- Susan
- Wendy
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Goff in...
Braille
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Morse
--.---..-...-.
Semaphore
There are approximately 4,151 people named Goff in the UK. That makes it roughly the 2,246th most common surname in Britain. Around 64 in a million people in Britain are named Goff.
Surname type: From given name or forename
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Scotland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named Goff
- Jack Goff - Racing driver
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.