English
The surname 'Goldsmith' is of English, and German origin. It is a variant from the surname 'Gold' in itself derived from a metonymic occupational name for someone who worked in gold (from the Old English, Old High German word 'gold') meaning a refiner. Jeweller, or glider. It is also derived from the English and German nickname for someone with bright yellow hair, with reference to the colour of the metal. Also a derivative from the Old English personal name 'Golda' (or the feminine 'Golde') which persisted into the Middle Ages as a given name. The name was in part a byname from gold, and in part a short form of the various names with this first element. In the United States it is often a shortened form of the Variant´s. Public and Civil registry archive's confirm that the surname 'Goldsmith' and or it's variant's, date as far back as the fourteenth century were a 'Thomas Goldsmyth', 'goldsmyth of Wakefield', from the county of Yorkshire, England, is recorded on Poll Tax records in 1379. Historical archive's have been unable to definitely determine the exact period of settlement in North America but It is believed that the forefather's of this surname were part of the exodus of migrants that followed the Treaty of Peace signed in Paris in 1763, when great Britain obtained ownership of the whole of North America east of the Missisipi River excepting New Orleans. The chief reasons causing working class people to emigrate were, poor crop yields, high unemployment, and the misconception that America was a land of golden opportunity. It is has been estimated that after 1769 some 20,000 persons a year migrated to the Americas from the British Isles. Today, 'Goldsmith' is the 'One thousand five hundred and thirtieth' most common surname in North America.