Guth
A surname with several possible roots, most likely from a short Gaelic or Germanic personal-name element rather than a common occupation or place-name.
The #9,418 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 89,414 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Guth is usually treated as a short name-form or descendant of an older personal name, but its exact source is not certain. In Gaelic, guth means “voice,” though that word is not by itself a standard surname root in the sources here. In Germanic and Anglo-Saxon contexts, related name-elements such as gut-/guth- can be connected with warlike or noble personal names, and some 19th-century writers linked similar forms to older compound names.
History
The historical excerpts do not give a direct entry for Guth itself, but they show the element guth appearing in older surname and given-name speculation, especially in Gaelic and Anglo-Saxon name explanations. In practice, Guth may reflect different independent origins in different families, including shortened forms of older compound names or names altered through spelling variation. Because the evidence is indirect, the surname should be treated cautiously rather than assigned one single origin everywhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Gaelic, guth still means “voice,” which is one reason older writers were drawn to it when trying to explain names with similar sounds.
From the historical record
“Goodlake.— Bapt. > the son of Gudleik' (Yonge, ii. 174, 318), or more probably the AS, Guth- lac ; v. Cutlack. TS50. Tbomai,sono(GoodliikeCaote; Reg. St- Dioni* Backchoich (London),”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances