The Clan/Sept History

The surname Butler is Norman in origin, and once meant 'wine steward'. The name was then extended to denote the chief servant of a household and amongst the nobility a high ranking officer concerned only nominally with the supply of wine. In Ireland the most prominent Butler family is descended from Theobald Fitzwalter who was created Chief Butler of Ireland by Henry II. His descendants became the Earls and later the Dukes of Ormond. Up to the end of the seventeenth century the Butlers were one of the most powerful Anglo-Norman dynasties sharing effective control of Ireland with their great rivals the Fitzgeralds.