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Boutilier Genealogy and Boutilier Family History Information

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Profiles

  • Anna Maria Boutilier (1779 - 1864)
  • Catherine #1 Boutilier (bef.1675 - bef.1685)
    Punch advises she died young. I decided the date. Catherine was the 4th child of Guillaume and Jeanne. The 8th and 10th children also Catherine. Source: Montbeliard Immigration to Nova Scotia. 1749-175...
  • Catherine # 2 BOUTILIER (aft.1685 - bef.1695)
    Please do not indicate that Montbeliard was in France. It was not part of France, it was an independent country and not part of France until 1793, long after the "Foreign Protestants" immigrated to Nov...
  • Eleanor Hubley (1808 - 1841)
  • Isaac Boutilier (bef.1672 - 1672)

About the Boutilier surname

1) The name Boutilier, spelled variously, is undoubtedly a nickname coming from a job discription perhaps from an obligation to a Lord as wine taster; to ensure the Lord's drink was not poisoned or perhaps a bottle maker.

2) The surname of Boutilier was derived from the Old French word 'Bouteiller' the servant in charge of the wine-cellar, so it was more of a title than a name.

The name was brought into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Bouteillers would have worked in the large houses of royalty and the most powerful nobility, but their last names could have been Smith, or Jones; but they were “Bouteillers.” In medieval times, the title frequently denoted an officer of high rank and responsibility, only nominally concerned with the supply of wine. So we were no slouches, and to some degree, something to write home about.

The earliest French hereditary surnames are found in the 12th century, at more or less the same time as they arose in England, but they are not common before the 13th century, and it was not until the 15th century that they stabilized to any great extent; before then a surname might be handed down for two or three generations, but then abandoned in favor of another.

In the south, many French surnames have come in from Italy over the centuries, and in Northern France, Germanic influence can often be detected. The name in England was Anglicized to Butler, as early as 1272, but it was still a title or a job description as opposed to a family name.