The German family name Goethe is classified as being of nickname origin.  Surnames which are derived from a nickname are said to contribute one of the widest and most varied class of family names.  This particular category emcompasses many different types of origin.  The most obvious are those names which are based on a physical characteristic or personal attribute of the initial barer.  In this particular instance, the surname Goethe is derived from the Middle High German "götte, gotte" which literally indiciates "godparent".  Thus, this term would have been applied to one who was the godparent of an important person in the community.  Alternatively, this surname is of personal name origin, derived from the first name of the father of the initial barer.  Here the name indicates "son of Göte", a pet form of first names derived from the Old High German "Got" meaning "God".  Variants of the surname include Gotti, Götti, Gotte, Goth,and Göd.

One of the earliest references to this name or to a variant is a record of on Cuonr. der Göthe who appears in documents relating to Villingen in 1329.  However, research is of course ongoing and this name may have been documented even earlier then the date indicated above.  Hsnsli Gotti is recorded as residing in the Unterbaldingen in 1398.  We also read of the marriage of Friedrich Georg Goethe and Anne Elisabeth Lutz (personal note: it was their son who produced George II and Heinrich who were my ancestors who came from Germany to South Carolina) in Frankfurt m Main, Hessen-Nassau, on the 18th of April 1687.  Ernst Wilhelm Gienther Goethe, son of Johann Daniel Bernhard Goethe and Auguste Wilhelmine Bohnhardt, was born in Koethen, Anhalt, Fraureuth, Reuss-Aeltere-Linie, Thuringen, on June 22nd, 1839.  The arms described belw are those of Dr. Johann Wolfgang Goethe.

Blazon of Arms: Azure, a mullet argent.  A border of the same.
Translation: Azure (blue) symbolizes Venus and denoted Truth and Loyalty.
Crest: On a ducal coronet or, the mullet of the arms.
Origin: Germany