Linguist and placename expert Svavar Sigmundsson suggests that the name derives from two crags at the falls which resemble pagan idols.

In 1879–1882, a myth was published in Denmark according to which the waterfall was named when the lawspeaker Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði made Christianity the official religion of Iceland in the year 999 or 1000.

Upon returning home from the Alþingi, Þorgeir supposedly threw his statues of the Norse gods into the waterfall.

MS Goðafoss, an Icelandic ship named after the waterfall, used to transport both freight and passengers.

It was sunk by a German U-Boat in World War II, resulting in great loss of life.