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Origin Displayed: English
Where did the English Buttmunch family come from? What is the English coat of arms/family crest? When did the Buttmunch family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the history of the family name?
Buttmunch is a name that first reached England following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Buttmunch family lived in Middlesex, where they were established since the early Middle Ages. The family was originally from the village named Butt in Normandy, France.
It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, Anglo-Norman surnames like Buttmunch are characterized by many spelling variations. Scribes and monks in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find several variations that refer to a single person. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people regularly changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Buttmunch include Butt, But, Butte and others.
First found in Middlesex where they were anciently seated, and were granted lands by William the Conqueror, and recorded in the Domesday Book compiled in 1086. They were descended from Butt in the arrondisement of Falaise in Normandy.
Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Buttmunch, or a variant listed above: Roger Butt who settled in Carbonear, Newfoundland, in 1675; John Butt settled in Conception Bay, Newfoundland, in 1706; Joseph Butt settled in Crockers Bay, Newfoundland, in the same year.
Motto Translated: They are able because they seem to be.
