The Clan History

Also found as Buttar and Butters, this surname is common in Fife and Perthshire, and may be connected with the old name Buttercask, the name of a village in the parish of Ardoch.

Butter was the name of an old family in Perthshire, particularly Pitlochry, where they possessed the lands of Fascally, and the Butters of Gormock were a still older family in the same county.

In 1331 there is a record of the escheat of Adam Butir, and in 1360 William Butyr and Patrick Butirr are mentioned as collectors of contributions in Gowrie "super ylef".

In 1511 James Buttir, fisherman, recieved recieved an ox-hide for making his currach.

Others of this name are mentioned in the Acts of Parliament and in Laing (Charters), and several individuals named Butter are mentioned in a charter of the lordship of Swinton dated 1656, and Butterlaw Loche, Butterlaw Syke, and Butterlaw Cairne are also named in the same charter.

The name occur frequently in the records of the Diocese and Presbytery of Dunkeld.

The name of Butter Road in Kincardineshire , which was an old drovers road across the Ochils, comes from the old Gaelic 'bothar', meaning 'a road for cattle'.