Goulds: Located on the Avalon Peninsula south of St. Johns, between Kilbride and Bay Bulls, the town of Goulds (sometimes referred to as The Goulds) is thought by many to be named after a flower.

Goulds, which actually is not on the water, has a long history of being a farming community as opposed to the typical fishing communities in the area. After WWII Goulds developed into a residential community, which today would be called a "bedroom community", which is referred to in the ENL as a "dormitory area" of St. John's.

Until 1991 it was an incorporated community unto itself, south east of the heart of St. John's, however at that time, the three communities of Goulds, Kilbride and Wedgewood Park were amalgamated into St. John's proper.

Back to the notion that the community is named after a flower. Never heard of a gould? That is because most likely its actual name is the "Mary Gold" (or "The Gold"), a plant that grows commonly in the area.

This plant is most likely to be a wild species of the plant that is known, in other parts of Canada, by its botanical name, the Calendula, or "marigold". In Newfoundland Mary Golds are called "goulds" by local folk.

However, not everybody agrees with the theory of the derivation of Goulds' name. For example, from material presented in the ENL there are several other possibilities listed:

the first is that Goulds comes from the Irish world Gabbal (pronounced goul), which according to M. F. Howley (n.d.) refers to "a primitive fork, such as a hay-fork made from the natural branch formation of a forked tree, or from the forked stick which young Irish boys used as a part of slingshots" and an also refer to a "naturally forked land formations such as rivers";

a second is that it comes from a game known as "Goulds" (aka Goals) that "boys and young men were wont to assemble in that locality to play"; and finally, the third suggests that Goulds is "old English place name (Gould's Green, Middlesex) that was "given by some old Englishman who came from Middlesex...."

In the 2016 Census, Goulds had a population of 4.418 citizens, a slight decrease (2.4%) from the Census of 2011 (4,525).

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/Goulds