Butler
A name derived from the Old French term for wine steward or cup-bearer.
Name Census estimates that about 215 living Americans carry the first name Butler. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Butler today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Butler births was 1919 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Butler. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Butler is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Butlers were born before 1962.
People living today
215
~ 1 in 1,594,206 Americans
Peak year
1919
31 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1996 SSA rank
#8,085
Tracked since 1880
Census
Butler in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 438 people with the first name Butler, which placed it at #22,648 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#22,648
National first-name rank
People counted
438
438 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Butler
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Butler is White at 49.1%. The next largest groups are Black (44.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Butler described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Butler at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.1% · 215
- Black or African American44.3% · 194
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 8
- Two or more races1.8% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 3
Popularity
Butler: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Butler from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 199 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Butler by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Butler during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Butlers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. South Carolina, Georgia, Texas recorded the most babies named Butler, while North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Butler
The name Butler is an English occupational surname that originated as a nickname for someone who was employed as a professional wine steward or servant. It derives from the Old French word "bouteillier," which means "bottle bearer" or "cup bearer." This term, in turn, traces its roots back to the Late Latin word "buticula," meaning "bottle."
The name Butler first emerged in England during the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. It was initially used as a descriptive term for individuals who were responsible for managing the wine supply and serving drinks at the tables of wealthy households or noble estates.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Butler can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which mentioned a person named "Walter le Butillier" in Nottinghamshire. This historical document provides evidence that the name was already in use as an occupational descriptor during the Norman period in England.
Over the centuries, the name Butler gained prominence and became associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the most famous individuals with this name was James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond (1610-1688), an Anglo-Irish statesman and military leader who played a significant role in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Another prominent figure with the name Butler was Rhett Butler, the dashing and controversial protagonist of Margaret Mitchell's acclaimed novel "Gone with the Wind" (1936). Although a fictional character, Rhett Butler has become an iconic representation of the Southern gentleman during the American Civil War era.
In the realm of literature, Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was an English novelist, essayist, and satirist, best known for his works "The Way of All Flesh" and "Erewhon." He is considered a prominent figure in the late Victorian era and a significant influence on modern literature.
Additionally, the name Butler is associated with Joseph Butler (1692-1752), an English philosopher and theologian who served as the Bishop of Durham. He is renowned for his works on ethics, particularly his influential treatise "The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed."
Lastly, Smedley Butler (1881-1940) was a highly decorated United States Marine Corps major general who received the Medal of Honor twice for his actions during the Boxer Rebellion and the Banana Wars. He is remembered for his outspoken criticism of the military-industrial complex and his influential book "War is a Racket."
People
Butler + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Butler as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Butler: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Butler?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 215 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Butler going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,594,206 US residents.
Is Butler a common name?
We classify Butler as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 987 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Butler most popular?
The single biggest year for Butler was 1919, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Butler is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Butler in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 438 people with the name Butler, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,648 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Butler in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Butler?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Butler leans strongly male. 362 people counted with this name were male (83.8%), compared with 70 female bearers (16.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Butler?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Butler is White at 49.1%. The next largest groups are Black (44.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Butler most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Butler in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.1% (215 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Butler in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Butler a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Butler in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Butler still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Butler in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Butler can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Butler?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.