Boutin
A French surname most likely tied to a personal name or nickname built from the root Bout- rather than to English “button.”
The #8,749 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 82,354 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Boutin is French, and the older surname dictionaries link it with other names in the Bout- group such as Boutan, Bouton, Boutet, and Boutard. The exact source is not perfectly settled in the excerpts, but it is treated as a derivative of a personal name or nickname base rather than a place-name. In older French onomastic work, these forms are often connected with a short Germanic personal-name element or with diminutive surname formation.
History
The name is found in French surname families and appears in older dictionaries alongside a cluster of related forms, suggesting a long-standing regional surname pattern in France. Some 19th-century writers compared it with English-looking forms like Button, but that is best treated as a loose resemblance, not a secure English derivation. The surname is now well established in French-speaking areas and in diaspora communities, including North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older French surname studies, Boutin is often discussed as part of a whole family of similar-looking names, showing how one root can generate many local variants.
From the historical record
“Hugt. n., Lond. 1685 Button. Fr. Boutin, Bout Butant ; p.n. See Budden Buttrum. D.B. de Bertram; $1' loc. n. L In Roll of Battell Abbey.”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)