In searching some parish registers for Essex, England I came across some people referred to as goodman or goody in the 1600s. One entry for Waltham Holy Cross in 1634 is an example "Richard Wesley the grandchild of goodman Allis of lipats hill was buried the 9 day" (June 1634).
I had not heard of this term before (let alone see it in a parish register) but it was apparently fairly common in the 1600s in puritan circles and was also used in America at the same time according to this web-site
https://donnagawell.com/2017/08/14/if-you-were-a-puritan-what-would-be-your-title/
A more thorough treatment is given in a paper by Norman H. Dawes, "Titles as Symbols of Prestige in Seventeenth-Century New England" from The William and Mary Quarterly,Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan., 1949), pp. 69-83 (available via JSTOR).
As far as England goes was it a term just used in places with a strong puritan following or did it have more general use? I have not seen it in Lincolnshire parish records and in Essex it wasn't used in that many parishes. Interesting...
