Leopold "Butters" Stotch is a fictional character in the adult animated television series South Park. He is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone and loosely based on co-producer Eric Stough. He is a student at South Park Elementary School. Butters is depicted as more naive, optimistic, and gullible than the show's other child characters and can become increasingly anxious, especially when faced with the likelihood of being grounded, of which he is extremely terrified. As a result, he is often sheltered and unknowledgeable of some of the suggestive content his peers understand, and is also frequently the victim of abuse and manipulation by Eric Cartman. His name is a play on the confection butterscotch. Butters debuted as an unnamed background character when South Park first premiered on Comedy Central on August 13, 1997; his role gradually increased, becoming one of the series's most frequently present characters beginning with season 3 and eventually the de facto fifth main character. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have stated that he is one of their favorite characters. Role in South Park Butters attends South Park Elementary as part of Mr. Garrison's (later Mrs. Garrison's) 4th grade class. Storyboards and scripts for seasons 1 and 2 had his original names as "Puff Puff" and "Swanson" respectively. In "AWESOM-O", he says his birthday is on September 11. He learns from his parents in "Going Native" that he was born on the island of Kaua'i. During the show's first 58 episodes (1997 through Season 4 episode "4th Grade" in 2000), Butters and the other main child characters were in the third grade. He lives in South Park as the only child of Stephen and Linda Stotch, from whom he perpetually faces the looming prospect of being grounded and abused. When the character of Kenny McCormick was temporarily written off the show near the end of Season 5, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman allow Butters into their group as the "fourth friend", a role he continued to fill until midway through season 6, namely, the episode "Professor Chaos". During this period, the boys would often take advantage of Butters' mild temperament by making him a stooge in their own personal schemes, especially Cartman's. The three eventually ousted him in favor of Tweek Tweak. As a result, Butters vengefully adopted the alter ego of Professor Chaos. Intending to be a supervillain, Professor Chaos wears a green