Butler - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: de Buitléir
Meaning: Norman - “the butler” (chief cup-bearer)
Traditional stronghold: Kilkenny, Tipperary
The Butlers of Ormond ruled from Kilkenny Castle for 500 years.
Pronunciation: BUT-ler; Irish de Buitléir: deh bwit-LAYR
History of the Butler name
The Butlers were, with the FitzGeralds, one of the two great dynasties of Anglo-Norman Ireland. The name is an office: Theobald Walter was appointed hereditary Chief Butler of Ireland around 1185, and his descendants took le Botiller - Butler - as their surname. Created Earls of Ormond in 1328, they ruled a vast lordship centred on Tipperary and Kilkenny, buying Kilkenny Castle in 1391 and holding it until 1967. Their centuries-long feud with the FitzGeralds of Desmond shaped late medieval Ireland, and Margaret Butler, daughter of the 7th Earl, was grandmother of Anne Boleyn. James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, dominated seventeenth-century Irish government as viceroy under two kings.
Countless tenants and followers across the Ormond lordship also took the name, which is why Butler is now common at every social level, especially in Kilkenny, Tipperary and Dublin.
Variants: de Buitléir · Buttler · le Botiller
Famous bearers of the name
- James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde - Royalist statesman who governed Ireland as viceroy through the mid-seventeenth century.
- Hubert Butler - Kilkenny essayist celebrated for his fearless writing on Ireland and central Europe.
- Jean Butler - Irish-American dancer who created the lead role in Riverdance.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · Ryan · Walsh · Kennedy · Brennan · Fitzpatrick · Carroll · Hogan