The name of the village was recorded in 1248 as Godeston, suggesting an etymology of the Old English personal name Goda and tun "farm, village", here in the sense "village" rather than "estate" considering the village size.
Earlier records have the name listed as Cudeston (1153) and Codstune (1173) suggesting "farmstead of a man called Cōd" (pronounced as "code", not "cod"), as with the Cotswolds, meaning "high-forest land of a man called Cōd".