Gatheridge

Recorded in an amazing number of spellings including Cuttridge, Cutteridge, Cutress, Cutriss, Gatheridge, Gatteridge, Goweridge, Goodridge, Goodrick, Gutteridge, Gutridge, and many others, this is an English surname. It is not usually a locational name, but is a development of the Olde English pre 7th century personal name "Cuthric". In a few cases the name does derive from the village, now called Goodrich, in the county of Hereford, and originally in 1102 recorded as Castellum Godric, or Godric's Castle. Given that the meaning of Cuthric was "famous-ruler", it is perhaps not surprising that as a baptismal name it was highly popular in pre 1066 Norman times, or that it became equally popular as a distinctive surname. There are a large number of very early recordings, and examples include: Joan Cudrich of Oxford in the Hundred Rolls of 1279, Jane Godrige of Cambridge in the Hundred Rolls also of 1279, and Hugh Coterich in the Subsidy Rolls of Somerset in 1327. Later examples include Arthur Gutteridge of Suffolk in the 1674 Hearth Tax Rolls, Richard Gatteridge at St Mary Whitechapel, Stepney, on August 16th 1705, and John Gutridge, who married Sarah Morris at the church of St Anne and St Agnes, Aldergate, in the city of London, on December 6th 1726. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ailric Cuterich. This was dated 1176, in the Pipe Rolls of Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as 'The church builder', 1154 -1189. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.