Double-barrelled surnames, usually created following a marriage between two families, have no overall meaning as a unit, but the separate parts have their own meaning and derivation. In this instance, the name Butler is of Norman origin, and is an occupational name for a wine steward, usually the chief servant of a medieval house. The derivation is from the Anglo-Norman French "butuiller", a development of the Old French "bouteillier", itself coming from the Latin "buticularius", from "buticula", bottle. In large households of royalty and the most powerful nobility, the title frequently denoted an officer of high rank and responsibility, only nominally concerned with the supply of wine. Many Irish bearers of this distinguished surname trace their ancestry to Theobald FitzWalter, who accompanied Henry 11 to Ireland in 1170, and who in 1177 was created "Chief Butler" (overlord) of Ireland by the king; his direct descendants include the earls and dukes of Ormonde. Bowdon is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from any of the various places throughout England named with the Olde English pre 7th Century "boga", bow (shaped), and "dun", hill, including Bowdon in Cheshire, and Bowden in Devon and Cornwall. John de Boghedon was noted in Devonshire in 1333, and on February 13th 1624, Sara, daughter of Edward Bowdon, was christened at St. Botolph without Aldgate, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugo Buteiller, which was dated 1055, in "A Calendar of Documents preserved in France", during the reign of King Henry 1 of France, 1031 - 1060. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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