This is a very unusual surname. It is almost certainly English in origin, and locational. The are a number of possible sources, the most likely being that the surname derives from either a "lost" medieval village, of which the only reminder today is the surname, or from a place such as Goldthorpe in Yorkshire, recorded as "Guldeturp" in the 1086 Domesday Book, whose name has changed over the centuries to the point where the relationship between the place name and surname spellings is no longer recognizeable. There are many places in the country whose name commences with "Gold", with several possible meanings, the most popular being from the pre 7th century personal name "Golda". This was originally given as a baptismal or nickname to a person with fair hair or fair complexion, although it may also have been nationalistic, and as such described an Anglo-Saxon or later Viking settler, since many of these were fair, whilst the Olde English were generally dark complexioned. The second possible origin which may apply here, is from the word "gold" meaning the flower marigold, plus "hop" to describe a narrow enclosed valley where the marigold grew. A third possibility is that the village was "up" that is on the top of a hill where marigolds grew. What is fairly certain is that no such place name is to be found in any of the known gazetters of the British Isles over the past three hundred years. Examples of the surname taken from the church registers of the diocese of Greater London include: John Goldup, christened at the church of St James, Paddington, when he was christened there on September 19th 1819. He was apparently the first of the surname in London, and he married Mary Bullock at the same church on July 21st 1843, with a child Louisa being christened at All Souls church, Marylebone, on September 29th 1844.

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