Where the Butera surname comes from
Butera is first of all a town, in the province of Caltanissetta, perched on a cliff above the plain of Gela. In the Middle Ages, whoever left their hometown took its name along, and elsewhere simply became “the one from Butera”: that is the most likely explanation for the surname. The town’s name in turn comes from Arabic. Scholars also mention two other theories: the PDF explains what they are, and how well they hold up.
A town at the center of history
At the foot of Butera, Arabs, Byzantines and Normans fought decisive battles, and in the 1500s the town gave its name to the first principality in all of Sicily. The princes of Butera, however, bore other surnames: the PDF tells who they were and what tie there is, or isn’t, with today’s Butera families.
Where the Butera families live today
The surname has two homes: central-western Sicily and Calabria, around Catanzaro, where it is the second most common surname in the town of Platania. There are about 1,300 families in Italy. Twentieth-century emigration did the rest, toward Turin and overseas: almost as many Buteras live in the United States as in Italy. The map and the countries they reached are in the PDF.
Anyone searching for the surname online also finds tens of thousands of Buteras in Rwanda and Burundi: there it is a local name, with no ties to Sicily.
Variants
Butera has no common variants. There is a rare Buttera, with two t’s, found in Northern Italy, which most likely has a different origin.
FAQ
What does the Butera surname mean?
“The one from Butera”: it named someone who came from the town of Butera, in the province of Caltanissetta. The town’s name comes from Arabic and means “steep place.”
Is Butera a Sicilian or a Calabrian surname?
Both: the surname lives mainly in central-western Sicily and in Calabria, around Catanzaro.
Is Ariana Grande’s last name Butera?
Yes. The singer’s legal name is Ariana Grande-Butera: Butera is the surname of her father, Edward. Sharing the same surname, though, doesn’t mean being related.
Do the Buteras descend from the princes of Butera?
No. The princes of Butera bore other surnames, and Butera was the name of their fief. The surname was carried by ordinary families who left that town.
Is there a Butera family coat of arms?
There is no coat of arms for the surname. The ones you see on the palaces of the princes of Butera are the arms of the families who held the fief, and they have nothing to do with the surname.
Are all Buteras related?
No. Over the centuries many different families left Butera, and each one took the town’s name along. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
