Goodwin
An Irish surname of Dublin. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 72,451 people, the 454th most common surname in the country.
Goodwin is the anglicised form of five distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.
Goidín, son of Godwine
Ó Deaghaidh, descendant of Deaghadh. This family stood in the barony of Inchiquin in Co. Clare and Co. Tipperary.
Ó Diaghaidh
Ó Godáin, descendant of Godán (diminutive of god , stammerer). This family stood in the barony of Tirawley in Co. Mayo.
Ó Goidín, descendant of Goidín (diminutive of god , stammerer). This family stood in Co. Mayo.
Where the name comes from
Goodwin here is usually Ó Deaghaidh wearing a wig. That family was Dalcassian, still numerous in Thomond, chiefs of Ui Fearmaic, which comprised the greater part of the present barony (an old land division, several parishes across) of Inchiquin, Co. Clare, with their principal strongholds at Tullyodea and Dyserttola. A second family of the name were anciently chiefs of Sliabh Ardacha, now Slewardagh, in the east of Co. Tipperary.
How it became Goodwin is the good part: the variant Ó Diaghaidh looks as though it begins with Dia, God, and somebody ran with it. The name is more honestly O'Dea, Dea, Day, Daw and Dee.
Goidín, son of Godwine, is the real thing, from a very common personal name among the Anglo-Saxons; and Ó Goidín, descendant of the little stammerer, is still in use in parts of Co. Mayo, anglicised Godwin and Goodwin.
Dublin, photographed
Photographs made in Dublin.
Dublin
Dublin is a county as well as a city. The bay has Howth at the north end and Killiney Hill at the south, the Muglins are a pair of rocks off Dalkey, and the Dublin Mountains start about half an hour from the city centre.
Notable bearers
Ginnifer Goodwin (born 1978), actor.
Craig Goodwin (born 1991), association football player.
Raven Goodwin (born 1992), actor.
Malcolm Goodwin (born 1982), actor, film director, and film producer.
Hannibal Goodwin (1822-1900), photographer, inventor, and Anglican priest.
About this page
The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.
More Irish surnames: Smith · Brown · Miller · Wilson · Anderson · Thomas · Taylor · Moore · Jackson · Martin · Lee · Thompson
How common the name was
In 1890, 26 births were registered under Goodwin in Ireland, most of them in Dublin and Monaghan.
| Ulster | 13 | 50% |
|---|---|---|
| Leinster | 10 | 38% |
| Munster | 2 | 8% |
| Connacht | 1 | 4% |
| Ireland | 26 |
Monaghan is the one I haven't worked in.