Button
An English surname that was often used for someone from a place called Hutton or Bitton, though some families may also have been influenced by the nickname-like form of Burton.
The #4,810 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 42,058 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Button is usually treated as a locational name. Historical writers connected it especially with place-names such as Hutton and Bitton, and one noted that some early spellings suggest a possible link with Bitton in Gloucestershire. In parts of Sussex, Burton was also pronounced in a way that could sound like Button, so the name may have overlapped with or been reshaped by local pronunciation in some families.
History
The name is found in medieval English records, including a Hampshire family traced back to the 13th century as de Button. Later spellings vary, and parish or township origins were proposed by different 19th-century etymologists. Because the surname appears in more than one region and with several spellings, it likely arose independently in more than one family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname scholar noted that in Sussex, Burton could be pronounced so similarly to Button that the two forms may have been confused.
From the historical record
“a corruption of Botreaux. BUTTON. The pedigree of the Hamp- shire family was traced to the XIII. cent, as De Button; and as it was sometimes spelt Bitton it may have been derived from the parish of Bitton, co. Gloucester. In Sussex, Burton is often pronounced Button. BUTTRESS. A corruption of Botreux. BUTTS. The…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom