Descendant of someone who lived near thick bushes.
Butchard, Butchart see BUCKET.
Butcher, Boucher, Boutcher, Bucher (Eng) Occupational name of a butcher or worker in a slaughterhouse.
Butevilain see BUTLIN.
Butler, Botler, Bottel, Bottle, Buttle (Eng) A head servant, specifically one who was in charge of the wine-cellar. Occasionally he was responsible for the importation of wine.
Butlin, Bucklin, Butevilain (Fre) Dr Reaney explained this name in his Origin of English Surnames as Old French boute vilain, ‘hustle the churl.’ It appears to have been the nickname of an overseer.
Butt, Butson, Butting, Butts (Eng) A nickname for a short, thickset person, or one who lived near, or spent a lot of time at, archery butts. Perhaps also a seller of the flatfish called butt, halibut.
Buttle see BUTLER.
Button, Boudet, Boudin, Boudon, Boudot, Boudeau, Bouton Descendant of a man who bore the Germanic personal name Bodo or one of its diminutive forms.
There was a Button family on the Mayflower when it sailed to America.
Lower reports that there is a sexton’s bill in an English parish church which refers to digging a grave for a Mr Button. It reads: ‘To making a Button-hole, 4s.6d.’
Butts see BUTT.
In The Newcomes, Thackeray has the exchange: ‘Mr Butts of the Life Guards.’ ‘Mr Butts – quel nom!’ (what a name!).
Byfield see FIELD.
Bygod, Bygot see PARDOE.
Byndloes see CATCHLOVE.
Byrd see BIRD.
Bywater, Bywaters (Eng) Ancestor of someone who lived near water, such as a lake or river.
Bywood see WOOD.
Cadbury descendant of someone who came from one of the places so named because it was ‘Cada’s fortress.’ The Old English personal name Cada probably meant ‘lump,’ and was perhaps applied to a fat person.
In the 1820s the Quaker John Cadbury sold tea and coffee in his Birmingham shop. He began grinding cocoa beans to supply a few special customers and went on to make chocolate.
Caldwell, Calwell, Caudell, Caudle, Caudwell, Cauldwell, Cawdell (Eng, Scot, Irish) A fairly common place name meaning ‘cold well, spring.’ Ancestors of those bearing these names could have come from any one of them.
A member of the American Name Society, some years ago, amused himself by matching surnames with various sports. Caldwell was considered to be suitable for a baseball umpire. Other links were made between LONGFELLOW and FOWLER, basketball; FIELDING, cricket; SITWELL, hunting; UPDIKE, mountaineering. Such a list could be considerably extended.
Caller, Callear, Callier, Callmaker, Caul, Caule, Caules (Eng) Occupational name for a maker of ‘cauls,’ head-dresses made of net-work.
Callister, Callistron see ALEXANDER.
Callmaker see CALLER.
Calwell see CALDWELL.
Cambell, Camble see CAMPBELL.
Cameron (Scot) In the Highlands a nickname from Gaelic cam sròn ‘crooked nose.’ As a Lowland surname it indicates an ancestor who lived near a ‘crooked hill,’ or in a place which itself had been named because of the presence of such a hill.
Campbell, Cambell, Camble (Scot) A nickname from Gaelic cam beul ‘crooked mouth.’ Popular legend derives the name instead from de campo bello ‘of the fair field’ and equates it with French Beauchamp, but this etymology has no justification.
Cannon, Cannons, Canon, Channon (Eng) Descendant of a canon, a clergyman who lived in a communal house with others of his profession. Perhaps also a nickname for someone who acted like a canon.
As with most surnames, a more individual explanation of its origin is possible. Arnold Bennet writes, in Hilda Lassways, that ‘Mrs Gailey had married a French modeller named Canonges, and in course of time the modeller had informally changed the name to Cannon, because no one in the five towns could pronounce the name rightly.’
Cape, Cope (Eng) Occupational name for someone who made capes, or a nickname for someone who wore a particularly noticeable one. From the Old English cape, retained in northern dialects, or from cope, its Middle English development.
Capelen, Capelin, Capeling, Caplen, Caplin see CHAPLIN.
Capern, Caperon see CAPRON.
Capp, Cape, Capes, Capmaker, Capman, Capper, Capps (Eng) Occupational name of a maker and seller of caps.
Capron, Capern, Caperon, Chape, Chaperon, Chapron (Eng, Fre) Occupational name of a maker of hooded cloaks, of the type worn by monks.
Capstack, Capstick see COPESTAKE.
Card, Carde, Carder (Eng) Occupational name of someone who carded (untangled) wool.
Mr Valentine Frank Henry Card, of Chelmsford, Essex, was born on February 14. He once told a Daily Mail reporter that he was obliged to take his birth certificate to work on Valentine’s Day every year to prove that he really was a living Valentine Card.
Cardrick see CARTWRIGHT.
Care see KERR.
Careless, Carless, Carloss (Eng) A disapproving nickname for someone who acted in a carefree or careless manner.
Chambers, in his Book of Days, quotes an amorous poet who addressed the following to a Miss Careless:
Careless by name, and Careless by nature;
Careless of shape, and Careless of feature.
Careless of dress, and Careless in air;
Careless of riding, in coach or in chair.
Careless of love, and Careless of hate;
Careless if crooked, and Careless if straight,
Careless at table, and Careless in bed;
Careless if maiden, not Careless if wed.
