The Butcher surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 22,978 people carried this name — #1,567 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 12,800 people counted. That is up 4% from 22,077 in 2000.

See Butcher on the map Look up another surname

Share

What the name means

The meaning of the Butcher surname

A surname originating as an occupation for a butcher.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Butcher» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley classes it as an occupational name: ‘the butcher’.

An early record he cites: William le Bocer, Shropshire, 1273 — Hundred Rolls.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 152 · public domain.

In Switzerland’s population statistics

37 people named Butcher live in Switzerland.

They live in 5 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Zurich 11
Aargau 8
Vaud 8
Lucerne 6
Solothurn 4

Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.

In France’s civil register

France’s register of deaths holds 31 people named Butcher.

Most of them — 19 — were born outside France. Those born in France came from 4 départements, most often Corrèze.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they were born

Born outside France 19
Corrèze 4
French Polynesia 4
Pas-de-Calais 3
French Guiana 1

Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.

Among the farmers of England and Wales, 1880s

Butcher was found among the farmers of 6 counties.

It was most frequent in Wiltshire: 22 in every 10,000 farmers there — about 1 in 455. Guppy counted the farmers listed in each county’s directory and recorded a name only where it reached about 7 in every 10,000; where it does not appear, it was rarer than that, not absent.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Per 10,000 farmers, by county

Wiltshire 22
Huntingdonshire 21
Kent 21
Suffolk 16
Shropshire 12
Norfolk 7

H. B. Guppy, «Homes of Family Names in Great Britain» (London, 1890), alphabetical list of English and Welsh names — public domain · farmers in Kelly’s Post Office Directories of the 1880s, per 10,000 farmers in each county.

In Scotland’s registers today

Butcher was recorded 13 times in Scotland’s registers of births, marriages and deaths in 2025.

That made it the 1564th most common name in those registers, shared with others on the same count. In 1975, the first year of the series, the count was 15. Each birth counts the child’s surname, each marriage both partners’ and each death the surname of the person who died — a yearly count of registrations, not of the people who live in Scotland.

National Records of Scotland, «Most Common Surnames, 2025» (published 26 May 2026): every surname recorded 10 or more times in the 2025 registers, and the series from 1975 · different spellings are counted separately — © Crown copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

In the first U.S. census, 1790

22 families named Butcher, or a close spelling, were counted in 1790.

Each family is counted by its head. About 136 people lived in those households, 6.2 to a family on average. The table counts it together with one other spelling. The table lists white heads of families only, in the twelve states whose 1790 records survive; Virginia’s figures come from state lists of 1782–1785.

Families, by state

Pennsylvania 8
Virginia 8
Maryland 3
North Carolina 2
South Carolina 1

U.S. Census Bureau, «A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900» (Washington, 1909), table 111, p. 232 — public domain · names carried by at least 100 white persons in 1790.

In print

Butcher in American newspapers,
1885–1927.

Newspaper page from The Western News carrying the name Butcher
The Western News 1900-03-07
Newspaper page from New-york Tribune carrying the name Butcher
New-york Tribune 1885-05-03
Newspaper page from The Ronan Pioneer carrying the name Butcher
The Ronan Pioneer 1927-03-10

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 3,088 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Butcher in Australian newspapers,
1810s–2000s.

90,197 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Butcher. The most, 10,594, date from the 1900s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in Western Australia, at 2.1 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 24,267
Victoria 23,850
Western Australia 13,721
Queensland 13,144
South Australia 9,575
Tasmania 5,224
ACT (Canberra) 265
Northern Territory 49

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Butcher.

Who carried it

People named Butcher,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Catherine Blake
    Catherine Blake 1762–1831 · painter
  • Charlotte Kemp
    Charlotte Kemp 1790–1860 · missionary
  • Robert Butcher
    Robert Butcher 1834–1888 · politician
  • Samuel H. Butcher
    Samuel H. Butcher 1850–1910 · politician
  • John Butcher, 1st Baron Danesfort
    John Butcher, 1st Baron Danesfort 1853–1935 · politician

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped — Robert Butcher: Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0); the others are in the public domain or CC0 · 255 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Butcher,
in the records of 8 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States2,358 records

2,358 records of the Butcher name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 763
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 448
  • Other U.S. records 1,147
  1. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Reuben Butcher

    Born 1943; from Jamaica, New York. U.S. Army, infantryman; killed in action 1966 in South Vietnam. Buried at Long Island National Cemetery, New York.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Edwin G. Butcher

    Born 1907 in Pennsylvania. Enlisted 1942 at Philadelphia; route man from Philadelphia County. U.S. Army veteran of World War II; died 1966, buried at Philadelphia National Cemetery, Pennsylvania.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Jean Butcher

    Arrived at New York in 1892 aboard the La Champagne from Havre, aged 29; engraver. From Ohio, Switzerland; bound for Chicago.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 2,358 records for Butcher in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · U.S. National Archives, Famine Irish Passenger Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain) · Sacramento County, Historic Burials (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Australia1,977 records

1,977 records of the Butcher name in Australia
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 827
  • Tasmanian Names Index 442
  • Other Australian records 708
  1. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Frances Butcher

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Gilbert Henderson, sailing from London in 1839. Native of Sussex. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1843. Married 1843 in Hobart, Tasmania, aged 28.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record William Butcher

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the David Clarke, sailing from Plymouth in 1841. Native of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1848. Married 1848 in Hobart, Tasmania.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. An 1829 etching of convicts being rowed out to the prison ship York in Portsmouth Harbour
    Pictured: convicts going on board a prison ship, 1829
    Transportation record Henry Butcher

    Transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the Asia, sailing from London in 1827. Native of Westerham, Kent. Applied for permission to marry in Van Diemen's Land in 1836. Married 1836 in Green Ponds, Tasmania.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 1,977 records for Butcher in Australia.

Counts: Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Queensland State Archives (CC BY 4.0) · Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · State Library of Western Australia (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, with the convicts going on board, etching by Edward William Cooke, 1829, Royal Museums Greenwich (public domain).

Canada242 records

242 records of the Butcher name in Canada
  • Nova Scotia Archives name indexes 149
  • Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 22
  • Other Canadian records 71
  1. A Canadian First World War grave register card for a soldier who died of wounds in 1917
    Example: Canadian war grave register, 1917
    War record Leonard Walter Butcher

    Served in the No. 2 Construction Battalion in the First World War, private; of Bridgetown, Barbados, British West Indies.

    Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia.
  2. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Thos Butcher

    Came to Ontario in 1871 aboard the Nestorian, landing at Quebec, bound for London, Ontario; English.

    Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
  3. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Linda Irene Butcher

    Buried in 1984 at Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 33.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.

Showing 3 of 242 records for Butcher in Canada.

Counts: Nova Scotia Archives. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Nova Scotia. · City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · Veterans Affairs Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. · City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. · City of Niagara Falls. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Niagara Falls. · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · Halifax Regional Municipality. Contains information licenced under the Open Government Licence—Halifax. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Canadian First World War circumstances-of-death register (scan by Scottgraham87 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain); Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

United Kingdom103 records

103 records of the Butcher name in the United Kingdom
  • War Office casualty lists, 1917–1919, among the dead 89
  • St James's burial ground, Euston (London), 1789–1853 14
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Elizabeth Butcher

    Buried in 1803 at St James's burial ground, Euston, London, aged 55.

    MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
  2. A First World War roll of honour of the staff of C. & E. Morton Ltd
    Example: roll of honour, 1914–1919
    War record J. Butcher

    Northumberland Fusiliers. Listed among the dead in the War Office casualty list of 1917.

    National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Elizh H. Butcher

    Buried in 1818 at St James's burial ground, Euston, London, aged 85.

    MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Showing 3 of 103 records for Butcher in the United Kingdom.

Counts: National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain) · MOLA and HS2, St James's burial ground data. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0); C. & E. Morton Ltd roll of honour, 1914–1919, photo by Adrian S Pye via Geograph (CC BY-SA 2.0).

New Zealand62 records

62 records of the Butcher name in New Zealand
  • Christchurch City cemetery records 55
  • Marlborough District cemetery records 4
  • Other New Zealand records 3
  1. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record William Butcher

    Died 1899, aged 73; buried at Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough.

    Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Harold Vincent Butcher

    Died 1986, aged 80; buried at Ruru Lawn, Christchurch, Canterbury.

    Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the burial register of Newtown, Wales, 1858
    Example: burial register, 1858
    Burial record Emma Ann Butcher

    Buried in 1907 at Shortland Cemetery, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, aged 75.

    Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 62 records for Butcher in New Zealand.

Counts: Christchurch City Council (CC BY 4.0) · Marlborough District Council (CC BY 4.0) · Thames-Coromandel District Council (CC BY 4.0) · National Library of Scotland, War Office Weekly Casualty Lists (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).

Netherlands27 records

27 records of the Butcher name in the Netherlands
  • Dutch population registers 22
  • Dutch church registers before 1811 3
  • Dutch civil registers (births, marriages, deaths) 2
  1. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Margaret Jeffry Butcher

    In the population register of Veere; of private means, born 1785 in Folkstone.

    Open Archives, Zeeuws Archief (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the 1910 United States census, Milwaukee
    Example: U.S. census, 1910
    Population register Henry Butcher

    In the population register of Londen; commercial traveller, born 1875 in Londen.

    Open Archives, Archief Eemland (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record George William Butcher

    Married in 1946 in Maarheeze.

    Open Archives, Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 27 records for Butcher in the Netherlands.

Counts: Open Archives (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. census of 1910, Milwaukee (public domain); Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain).

France5 records

5 records of the Butcher name in France France's national death register, 1970–2001
  1. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Henry Frederick Butcher

    Born 1917 in Great Britain; died 1996 in Gramont (Tarn-et-Garonne).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
  2. A page of the death register of Nice, 1930
    Example: French death register, 1930
    Death record Georges Raymond Butcher

    Born 1924 in Wimereux; died 1997 in Wimille (Pas-de-Calais).

    Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)

Showing 2 of 5 records for Butcher in France.

Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).

Germany2 records

2 records of the Butcher name in Germany Germany's First World War casualty lists, 1914–1919
  1. A page of the German First World War casualty lists, 18 April 1918
    Example: German casualty list, 1918
    Casualty list Heinrich Karl Bütcher

    From Beutzen, Braunschweig. Reported dead in the Prussian casualty list of 16 May 1916.

    Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0)

Showing 1 of 2 records for Butcher in Germany.

Counts: Verein für Computergenealogie e.V. (2026). Deutsche Verlustlisten des Ersten Weltkriegs – Datensammlung (Version 1.0), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18330751 (CC0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Deutsche Verlustlisten, Prussian list 1116, 18 April 1918 (scan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Butcher.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Butcher is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Butcher volume
Scroll to Top