It is generally considered the Anglo-Norman form of the Germanic compound *gudą 'god' and *friþuz 'peace'.

[1] It is a derivative of Dutch Godfried, German Gottfried and Old English Gotfrith and Godfrith.

Popularity of the name declined after the medieval period, but it was revived in modern England and the British Empire at large.

The spelling Geo- is probably due to the influence of the first name Georges, derived from Old French Jorre, Joire.

[4] If a strictly phonetic development is assumed, Geoffrey cannot be derived from Godfrid, as *go- would result in Old French go- [ɡɔ] and not geo- (jo-, [dʒɔ]), ie goda-fridu would yield Godefroy [ɡodfrwa] but not Geoffroy.

Alternative suggestions which would derive the first element from Germanic gisal- 'hostage', or w(e)alah 'Gallo-Roman; stranger' are also rejected by Dauzat as phonetically impossible: gi would have resulted in Old French [dʒi] (Modern French [ʒi]), as in Gisalbert > Gilbert (ie *Gisalfrid > *Giffrey), and *w(e)alh- would have resulted in *gaul- [ɡol] (ie *Wealhfrid > *Gaulfrey, *Gauffrey).