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Name Lineage

    The surname Butter

    A Dutch occupational surname, carried by 562 people in the United States.

    2 syllables Soundex B360

    Butter: #39,164 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Butter #39,164, 562 people Butter: #39,164 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Butter #39,164, 562 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Butter is more common than 75.9% of them.

    Origin

    Dutch origin

    Various origins: * From butter, a metonymic occupational surname for a dairyman or seller of butter. * From Old French butor (“bittern”), a nickname for someone who resembled a bittern, perhaps because of his voice. * Borrowed from Dutch and German Butter, possibly a short form of various compound names.

    Butter is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

    One of 167 Dutch surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 562 people named Butter in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 549,369 Americans. That is down 2.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 579.

    #39,164
    rank among US surnames
    562
    people in 2010
    0.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    -2.9%
    change since 2000 (was #36,463)

    Who is named Butter

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    73% of people named Butter identified as white (not Hispanic), 10% as Black (not Hispanic) and 8.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 73%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 10%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 8.9%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 6.2%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Native American, Multiracial are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Butters

    1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Hannah Wilke
      American artist (1940-1993)

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Butter

    Butter has the Soundex code B360, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B360.

    Other Dutch surnames

    All 167 Dutch surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Butter come from?
    Various origins: * From butter, a metonymic occupational surname for a dairyman or seller of butter. * From Old French butor (“bittern”), a nickname for someone who resembled a bittern, perhaps because of his voice. * Borrowed from Dutch and German Butter, possibly a short form of various compound…
    How common is the surname Butter?
    562 people in the United States had the surname Butter in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 549,369 Americans. It ranked 39,164th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Butter?
    In the 2010 Census, 73% of people named Butter identified as white (not Hispanic), and 10% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Butter?
    Hannah Wilke, American artist (1940-1993).
    Where is the surname Butter most common?
    Wikidata records people named Butter in the United States.
    What type of surname is Butter?
    Butter is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
    Is the surname Butter getting more or less common?
    Less common. 579 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 562 in 2010, down 2.9%.