Family name origins & meanings
- English : nickname from Middle English gode ‘good’ + saule, soule ‘soul’.
- Probably also an Americanized form of German Gutseel or Gutsell; like 1, these are a nickname for a kindly person (literally ‘good soul’). Alternatively, it could be a reduced Americanized form of south German Gutgsell, a nickname or journeyman’s name, from gut ‘good’ + Gesell(e) ‘fellow’, ‘journeyman’.