The BUTLER surname in the USA

Frequency Comparisons
	Total	Rank	Frequency %	Per million people
United States
United States (Current snapshot)	210,879	98	0.078	782
United States (1880 census)	52,493	71	0.105	1,050
Change since 1880	+158386	-27	-0.027	-268
Other Countries
Australia	11,355	92	0.069	695
United Kingdom	44,158	99	0.096	961

Top States for BUTLER by Total
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Texas	15,843	125	0.076	760
California	14,093	193	0.042	416
Florida	13,804	90	0.086	864
Georgia	10,032	66	0.123	1,225
New York	9,068	129	0.048	478
Top States for BUTLER by Frequency
State	Total	Rank in State	Frequency %	Per million people
Washington DC	1,122	31	0.196	1,961
Mississippi	4,836	58	0.170	1,700
South Carolina	5,724	79	0.143	1,427
Maryland	7,502	39	0.142	1,416
Alabama	6,257	86	0.141	1,407

Notes

Total is the total number of people with that surname.
Rank is the position in the list of names ordered by total (eg, a rank of 1 means that it's the most common name, and a rank of 10 means it's the tenth most common, etc).
Frequency is the percentage of people with that surname.
Per million people is the number of people with that surname per million of the population.

'A figure of zero indicates that we don't have data for this name (usually because it's quite uncommon and our stats don't go down that far). It doesn't mean that there's no-one with that name at all!

For less common surnames, the figures get progressively less reliable the fewer holders of that name there are. This data is aggregated from several public lists, and some stats are interpolated from known values. The margin of error is well over 100% at the rarest end of the table!

For less common surnames, the frequency and "per million" values may be 0 even though there are people with that name. That's because they represent less than one in a million of the population, which ends up as 0 after rounding.

It's possible for a surname to gain in rank and/or total while being less common per million people (or vice versa) as there are now more surnames in the USA as a result of immigration. In mathematical terms, the tail has got longer, with a far larger number of less common surnames.

Figures for top states show firstly the states where most people called BUTLER live. This obviously tends to be biased towards the most populous states. The second set of figures show where people called BUTLER represent the biggest proportion of the population. So, in this case, there are more people called BUTLER in Texas than any other state, but you are more likely to find a BUTLER by picking someone at random in Washington DC than anywhere else.

Classification and Origin of BUTLER

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Language of origin: English

Ethnic origin: English

Religious origin: Christian

Name derivation: Occupational Name

Data for religion and/or language relates to the culture in which the BUTLER surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the language spoken, or religion practised, by the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Data for ethnic origin relates to the region and country in which the BUTLER surname originated. It does not necessarily have any correlation with the ethnicity of the majority of current American citizens with that name.

Ethnic distribution of BUTLER in the USA

Classification	Total	Percent
Asian/Pacific	738	0.35
White (Caucasian)	136,544	64.75
Black/African American	65,056	30.85
Mixed Race	3,690	1.75
White (Hispanic)	3,163	1.5
Native American/Alaskan	1,708	0.81

Ethnic distribution data shows the number and percentage of people with the BUTLER surname who reported their ethnic background as being in these broad categories in the most recent national census.

Meaning of BUTLER in historical publications

This family derive their origin from the old Counts of Briony or Biony, in Normandy, a descendant of whom, Herveius Fitz Walter, accompanied the Conqueror into England. His son, Theobold, went with Henry II. into Ireland, where, having greatly assisted in the reduction of the kingdom, he was rewarded with large possessions there, and made it the place of his residence. The king afterward conferred on him the office of chief Butler of Ireland, whence his descendants, the Earls of Ormond and others, took the surname of De Boteler or Butler.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

BUTLER. See under Botiler. The origin of the great Irish f\imily of Butler is a vexed question. They have been variously deduced — from Heneius, a companion of William the Conqueror — from the illustrious De Clares — and from a brother of Thomas a Becket. Certain it is that they went over to Ireland, temp. Henry II., and that the name is derived from the oflice of King's Butler, which was conferred upon Theobald surnamed ?e Boteler by that monarch in 1177, and remained hereditary in his descendants for many genei-atioiis. The head of the family claimed prisage and butlerage for all wines imported into Ireland, and it was not until 1810 that the claim was finally surrendered, for the valuable consideration of £216,000.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.

Similar names to BUTLER

The following names have similar spellings or pronunciations as BUTLER.

This does not necessarily imply a direct relationship between the names, but may indicate names that could be mistaken for this one when written down or misheard.