The first element of Goadby, in the Gartree Hundred of Leicestershire, comes from the Old Norse male personal name Gauti (genitive singular Gauta), which is either a short form of names in Gaut- or is derived from an original byname meaning ‘a man from Gautland’. The second element of the place-name is Old Norse by ‘a farmstead, a village’.
Occasionally the place-name is suffixed with reference to its neighbouring villages Noseley or Keythorpe to distinguish it from Goadby Marwood in the Framland Hundred.
