Gaulden is a surname of English origin. According to the Dictionary of American Family Names, Gaulden is a variant of Gauldin, which the book suggests is possibly a variant of Golden;[1] however, genetic research shows no connection to the Golden surname going back 6,000 years.[2]
According to YDNA testing, men who carry the surnames Gaulding, Gaulden, or Gauldin are SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism) R-FTC46937. All Gaulding surname lineages connect back to a man who lived in St. Peters Parish, New Kent County, Virginia, in the 1600s, John Gaulding of New Kent.[2]