Family name origins & meanings
- Origin unidentified. Perhaps an altered form of Dutch De But(te) :
- from Middle Dutch but(te), bot(te) ‘pannier’, ‘box’, presumably a metonymic occupational name.
- from but(te), bot(te) ‘flat fish’, ‘flounder’, hence a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish, or a metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or fish seller.