Butter Family History

Dutch and German: occupational name for a dairyman or seller of butter from Middle Dutch butter and Middle High German buter. English: occupational name for a dairyman, a shortened form of Middle English buterer ‘maker or seller of butter’. Alternatively, it may be a nickname from Middle English buter(e) ‘butter’.

English and Scottish: occupational name for someone who was in charge of provisions, the keeper of a buttery or wine store (from Old French boter). English (of Norman origin): possibly a shortened variant of Bultitude from Anglo-Norman French bote torte ‘twisted boot’ (bote ‘boot’ + torte ‘twisted’), from which arose the name Botetourt County, Virginia.

English: occasionally perhaps a nickname from Middle English botor, Old French butor ‘bittern’, a bird that is noted for its boom in the breeding season; it was sometimes known as ‘the bull of the bog’.