Gottfried is a masculine German given name.
It is derived from the Old High German name Godafrid, recorded since the 7th century, and composed of the elements god- (conflated from the etyma for "God" and "good", and possibly further conflated with gaut) and Frith]] ("peace" or "protection").[Ernst Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1856), 533.]
The German name was commonly Hypocorism abbreviated as Götz from the late medieval period.
Götz and variants (including Göthe, Göthke and Göpfert) also came into use as . Gottfried is also a common surname among Ashkenazi Jews.
Given name
The given name
Gottfried became extremely frequent in Germany in the High Middle Ages, to the point of eclipsing most other names in
God- (such as
Godabert, Gotahard, Godohelm, Godomar, Goduin, Gotrat, Godulf, etc.)
The name was Latinised as
Godefridus.
Medieval bearers of the name include:
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Gotfrid, Duke of Alemannia and Raetia Curiensis (d. 709)
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Godefrid (d. c. 720), son of Drogo of Champagne, Frankish nobleman.
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Godfrid Haraldsson (d. c. 856), Danish Viking leader
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Godfrid, Duke of Frisia (d. 885), Danish Viking leader
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Godfrey, Count Palatine of Lotharingia (d. 949)
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Godfrey I, Duke of Lower Lorraine (d. 964)
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Geoffrey I "Greymantle", Count of Anjou (d. 987)
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Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany (d. 1008)
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Godfrey II, Duke of Lower Lorraine (d. 1023)
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Geoffrey II "the Hammer", Count of Anjou (d. 1060)
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Godfrey III, Duke of Lower Lorraine (d. 1069)
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Godfrey of Bouillon ( Godefridus Bullionensis, Godefroy de Bouillon, d. 1100), Frankish knight and leader of the First Crusade
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Gottfried II of Raabs (d. c. 1137), burgrave of Nuremberg
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Gottfried of Admont (d. 1165), Benedictine abbot
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Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. c. 1181)
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Geoffrey of Clairvaux (d. after 1188), Cistercian abbot
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Godfrey of Viterbo ( Godefridus Viterbiensis, c. 1120 – c. 1196)
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Geoffrey of Vinsauf (fl. 1200), medieval grammarian
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Gottfried von Strassburg (d. 1210), author of a Middle High German courtly romance
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Geoffrey of Villehardouin (d. c. 1212), knight and historian of the Fourth Crusade
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Gottfried von Hohenlohe (1265–1310), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
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Gottfried von Hagenau (died 1313), poet, theologian and medical doctor from Alsace
A notable early modern bearer of the name is Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646–1716).
Gottfried remains comparatively popular in Germany, ranking in the top 200 masculine given names.[found to be at rank 135 with 11,738 entries in the German phonebook as of 2005 according to wikt:Verzeichnis:Deutsch/Liste der häufigsten männlichen Vornamen Deutschlands.]
Surname
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Gesche Gottfried (1785–1831), German serial killer
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John Gottfried (1917–1980), Canadian politician
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Martha Joy Gottfried (1925–2014), American landscape painter
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Robert W. Gottfried (1926–2007), American entrepreneur
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Martin Gottfried (1933–2014), American critic, columnist and author
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Dan Gottfried (1939– ), Israeli jazz pianist and lawyer
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Paul Gottfried (1941– ), American political and philosophy professor
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Richard Gottfried (1947– ), American politician
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Brian Gottfried (1952– ), American tennis player
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Gilbert Gottfried (1955–2022), American comedian and actor
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Mark Gottfried (1964– ), American basketball coach
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Keith Gottfried (1966– ), American lawyer
See also
