Family name origins & meanings
- English, German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : from the Middle English, German, or Yiddish elements gold + ring. As an English or German surname it is most probably a nickname for someone who wore a gold ring. As a Jewish surname it is generally an ornamental name.
- Scottish : habitational name from Goldring in the bailiary of Kylestewart.
- The name is found in England as early as 1230, when Thomas Goldring is recorded as holding property in Essex and Hertfordshire. The name was quite common in London, Sussex, and Hampshire from early times, and descendants of these bearers are now also well established in Canada. The first known bearer in Scotland is Thomas of Goldringe, who held land in Prestwick in 1511.