It is derived from the Old High German name Godafrid, recorded since the 7th century, and composed of the elements god- (conflated from the etyma for "God" and "good", and possibly further conflated with gaut) and frid- ("peace" or "protection").
[2] The German name was commonly hypocoristically abbreviated as Götz from the late medieval period.
Götz and variants (including Göthe, Göthke and Göpfert) also came into use as German surnames.
The given name Gottfried became extremely frequent in Germany in the High Middle Ages, to the point of eclipsing most other names in God- (such as Godabert, Gotahard, Godohelm, Godomar, Goduin, Gotrat, Godulf, etc.)
Gottfried remains comparatively popular in Germany, ranking in the top 200 masculine given names.