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Same as Goodwin or Gooden, derived from God or good, Sax., and win, conqueror, that is, a conqueror in God, converted or victorious in God. In one of those battles fought between Edmund the Anglo-Saxon, and Canute the Dane, the Danish army being routed and forced to fly, one of their principal captains named Ulf lost his way in the woods. After wandering all night, he met at daybreak a young peasant driving a herd of oxen whom he saluted, and asked hia name. '1 am Godwin, the son of Ulfhoth,' said the young peasant, 'and thou art a Dane.'
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