Explore the Family Name Butler

The meaning of Butler

1. English: from a word that originally denoted a wine steward, usually the chief servant of a medieval household, from Norman French butuiller (Old French bouteillier, Latin buticularius, from buticula ‘bottle’). In the large households of royalty and the most powerful nobility, the title came to denote an officer of high rank and responsibility, only nominally concerned with the supply of wine, if at all. As well as being widespread in England, this is also the surname of an important Irish family, descended from Theobald FitzWalter, who was appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. It is Gaelicized as de Buitléir. 2. English: occasionally perhaps an occupational name from Middle English boteler ‘maker of bottles (usually of leather)’, a derivative of Middle English botel, Old French bo(u)teille ‘bottle’ and synonymous with Botelmaker. 3. Americanized form of French Bouthillier (see Bouteiller). 4. Americanized form of German Buttler 2, a cognate of 1 above, or of Buttlar (see Buttler 3). 5. Jewish (from Poland and Ukraine): occupational name for a bottle maker, from Yiddish butl ‘bottle’ + the agent suffix -er. History: This name was brought independently to New England by many bearers from the 17th century onward. William Butler was one of the founders of Hartford, CT, in 1635 (coming from Cambridge, MA with Thomas Hooker). — A Massachusetts family called Butler is descended from Nicholas Butler, who came to Dorchester, MA, from Ashford, Kent, England, in 1636 and subsequently moved to Martha’s Vineyard. — The name is also very common in Ireland. Irish bearers trace their ancestry to Theobald FitzWalter, who accompanied Henry II to Ireland in 1170 and in 1177 was created ‘Chief Butler’ (i.e. overlord) of Ireland by the king. FitzWalter’s descendant James Butler (1665–1745), 2nd Duke of Ormonde, was a staunch Protestant and supporter of William of Orange in 1685. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and became Commander-in-Chief of the British army. But after the death of Queen Anne he opposed the accession of George I and took part in a Jacobite rising (1715), after which he spent the rest of his life in exile.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

What do people with the surname Butler have in common?

Spoiler alert: it's complicated. People with the same last name are usually no more genetically similar than a randomly sampled group of people from the same population. That said, people with the same surname are more likely to have similar ancestries than randomly sampled individuals. The reason is the tendency of people with similar cultural or geographical backgrounds to preferentially mate with one another. That's why people who share a surname may be more likely to share traits and tendencies in common than people within the general population. Check out the percentages below to see the prevalences of tastes, habits, and traits of people with your surname compared with prevalences among 23andMe users.