Butz
A surname with German roots, probably a nickname or short-form name that later produced spellings like Butts and Putz.
The #7,846 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 73,162 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Butz is recorded in older German surname discussions alongside forms such as Butts, Putz, Bautz, and Bitz. The sources suggest it belongs to a set of short, nickname-like names built from older German speech forms, rather than a straightforward occupational or place-name surname. In some historical treatments it is linked with spelling shifts involving final -z and related consonants, which makes the exact base form uncertain.
History
The name appears in 19th-century surname studies as part of a wider German naming pattern, with regional spellings and related forms scattered across German-speaking areas. One source places it among older southern German and Austrian-style variants, where z, ss, and related sounds often alternate in surnames. In the United States, Butz is a relatively uncommon surname but one that likely arrived through German immigration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname scholars sometimes grouped Butz with a whole cluster of similarly sounding German names, showing how flexible spelling could be before standardization.
From the historical record
“BUlgrer s. a) I. Bil. b) III. Pilger. -biller s. Bühl. BUtz 8. Bil (einst. E.). Binder III. mhd. binder der „Faßbinder, Bötticher* („Bindei^asse* in Nürnberg). Yl^, Binder — Pinder (oberd., vgl. „Pin- ter* in Marburger ürk., Reichel S. 31) — mit Abstumpfung des t ; Bender. Zss.”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen