Clan Rising

Butler

The cellarer's name, and the Earls of Ormond of Kilkenny.

Origin
London, England
Motto
Comme je trouve
Famous bearer
Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond ("Black Tom", 1531–1614)
Register
English family
#3

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This name is thick on both sides of the border, so the map shows the whole of Britain and Ireland with every region it touches highlighted. It is a regional pattern for the surname, not proof that your branch lived in each place.

Territory of Butler across England and Ireland

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of Butler

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Butler community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Butler has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

The Butler clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.

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Motto

Comme je trouve

“As I find”

What does the Butler name mean?

Occupational, butteler, wine-cellar officer. Anglo-Norman noble households froze the office into surname. The senior line in these islands is the Anglo-Norman Butler family who came to Ireland with King John in 1185 and rose to be the Earls of Ormond from 1328, the Anglo-Irish house of the late mediaeval period and the great rivals of the FitzGerald earls of Desmond. The English-Butler population overwhelmingly descends from the same noble-household occupational frame.

The history of Butler

A great lord's butler guarded the buttery, not butter, but the butts of wine, the power to pour at high table. The office married trust and theatre; petty chronicles name butlers who bankrupted earls by embezzlement and others who died shielding their lord. When the job title froze into surname, it marked households that had once tasted castle air, however distantly.

The senior Butler line in these islands was the Hiberno-Norman Butler family, hereditary chief butlers of the lordship of Ireland from the grant of King John to Theobald Walter in 1185 (whence the surname). Their descendants the Butlers of Ormond rose to the earldom of Ormond in 1328 and were, alongside the FitzGerald earls of Desmond, the Anglo-Irish noble house of the late mediaeval period. The Butlers held Kilkenny Castle as their principal seat from 1391 until 1967, when the eighteenth Marquess of Ormonde transferred the castle to the Irish state. Many modern Butlers in Ireland descend from the rural tenants of the long Butler estates of the south-east, several million bear the name globally.

Champions of the Butler name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has their own page, biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Also found in

The Butler name has substantial historical presence beyond England. See it on Ireland.

Historic Places, Rebuilt

Explore the streets and seats the Butler name knew, rebuilt with AI as they stood in history.

Or recreate your own castle →

Historic Places, Rebuilt · New

Explore Rock of Cashel in 1490Enter →

The cathedral citadel of the Kings of Munster, whole and roofed on its rock, round tower, Cormac's Chapel and Gothic cathedral.

Historic Places, Rebuilt · New

Explore London in 1818Enter →

St Paul's, Covent Garden and the gaslit West End, Regency London, soot-hazed and horse-drawn.

Castles the Butler held

Strongholds this name held for a decade or more, look one up, or rebuild it to explore.

  • Cahir Castle

    Held by the Butlers, Barons Cahir, from 1375 for nearly 600 years.

  • Kilkenny Castle

    Seat of the Butler Earls and Dukes of Ormond, 1391–1935.

  • Ardfinnan Castle

    Transferred to Lord Cahir under Elizabeth I; Richard Butler of Ardfinnan Castle was a grandson of an Earl of Ormond.

  • Knappogue Castle

    Acquired in 1855 by Theobold Fitzwalter Butler, 14th Baron Dunboyne; the seat of the Dunboyne family.

  • Ormonde Castle

    Held by the Butlers, Earls and Dukes of Ormond, from 1315 until the mid-20th century.

  • Gowran Castle

    The Manor of Gowran was granted to Theobald Fitzwalter, first Chief Butler of Ireland, after 1169; James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, built the first castle in 1385 and made it his usual residence.

  • Roscrea Castle

    Granted to the Butlers of Ormond in 1315 and held until the Duke of Ormonde sold it in 1703; the 4th Earl built the stone gate building in the 15th century.

  • Kiltinan Castle

    A Butler stronghold, held by the branch that carried the title Baron Dunboyne, 1452–1650.

  • Kilcash Castle

    Held by the Butlers of Ormond from the early 17th century until sold to the Irish State in 1997.

  • Shankill Castle

    The original tower-house was a Butler house; the family sold the lands to Peter Aylward in 1708.

The castles of the homeland

The great strongholds of the homeland, look one up, see what it looked like in its prime, and recreate it to explore.

Windsor Castle, EnglandWindsor CastleRestored · prime 1820Tower of London, EnglandTower of LondonRestored · prime 1285Bamburgh Castle, EnglandBamburgh CastleRestored · prime 1904

All castles in England → · Strongest castles in England → · Castles of Europe

Play As Your Clan

Explore history as a ButlerStart your story →

Pick any year from 500 to 1945 and any place on earth, the Butler country, or a shore no Butler ever reached. The chronicler sets the scene; the deeds are yours.

Notable bearers of the Butler name

  • Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond ("Black Tom", 1531–1614)
  • James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde (1610–1688), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Stories of Butler

Frequently asked

What does the surname Butler mean?

Occupational, butteler, wine-cellar officer. Anglo-Norman noble households froze the office into surname. The senior line in these islands is the Anglo-Norman Butler family who came to Ireland with King John in 1185 and rose to be the Earls of Ormond from 1328, the Anglo-Irish house of the late mediaeval period and the great rivals of the FitzGerald earls of Desmond. The English-Butler population overwhelmingly descends from the same noble-household occupational frame. A great lord's butler guarded the buttery, not butter, but the butts of wine, the power to pour at high table.

Where does the Butler family come from?

The Butler family is rooted in London and South East, in England. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in London, Kent, Surrey and East Sussex. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the Butler family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the Butler name has been concentrated in Birmingham & the Black Country, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire & Herefordshire, Shropshire and Cumbria. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is Butler English or Irish?

Butler is a English surname; its home on this atlas is England, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated. The name also has a substantial historical presence in Ireland, cross-linked on the page under "Also found in", but the record is densest in England.

How old is the Butler surname?

A great lord's butler guarded the buttery, not butter, but the butts of wine, the power to pour at high table. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Butler name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Butler family known for?

The cellarer's name, and the Earls of Ormond of Kilkenny. A great lord's butler guarded the buttery, not butter, but the butts of wine, the power to pour at high table.

What is the Butler motto?

The motto of the Butler family is "Comme je trouve", which translates as "As I find". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

What does "Comme je trouve" mean in English?

"Comme je trouve" is the motto of the Butler family. In English it means "As I find". The phrase is typically rendered in Latin, though some Highland families carry their motto in Gaelic and some Norman lines in Old French.

Is there a Butler family crest or coat of arms?

There is no single coat of arms that belongs to everyone named Butler. Heraldic arms were granted to individuals and descend through specific documented lines, so a "family crest" matched to a surname alone is decorative rather than genealogical. The motto associated with the principal line is "Comme je trouve".

Who is the most famous Butler?

The best-known bearer of the Butler name is Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond ("Black Tom", 1531–1614). Other prominent figures of the family include James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde (1610–1688), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Who are some famous Butlers?

Notable bearers of the Butler name include Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond ("Black Tom", 1531–1614) and James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde (1610–1688), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the Butler family?

The Butler family is associated with The Battle of Affane. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of the Battle of Affane?

On the eighth of February 1565, on the open ground above the ford at Affane on the lower Blackwater River in County Waterford, the Anglo-Irish house of Butler (under Thomas, tenth Earl of Ormond, called Black Tom, in his thirty-fourth year) met its hereditary rival house of FitzGerald (under Gerald, fifteenth Earl of Desmond) in what is, by the reckoning of every careful Irish historian, the last private battle fought between two great noble houses on Irish soil. About two thousand men were on the FitzGerald side, fewer on the Butler. The event is dated to 1565.

Where is the Butler surname found today?

England is the primary historical home of the Butler surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same England origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Butler family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Butler family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, the family motto, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of England so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Butler family today?

The seat for the head of the Butler family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.

Neighbouring clans