Japanese Butlers Named Sebastian?

Based on an episode of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, I was wondering if there was some kind of Shout-Out / stereotypical naming involved for butlers named Sebastian. To explain, a character insists on calling the Itoshiki-family butler Sebastian, even though that's not his name. He makes a comment to the effect that she got that impression from watching too much tv.

Well, I know that the title character of Black Butler is named Sebastian, which makes me think there must be some association Japanese people have with the name that I'm not getting.

I've seen that a couple other places, as well. I really have no idea what's going on there.

I think I've seen it in non-Japanese media, too.

In Lucky Star, Konata treats Minoru like a butler, and insists on calling him "Sebasian." I have no idea what this is in reference to, but you might try looking at the Lucky Star Reference Thread.

Oh well, sebastian, at least to me, sounds butlery.

It's probably along the lines of "Jeeves" being the accepted name for a butler in America...I don't know for the life of me where that comes from, either.

^The Jeeves And Wooster books.

And the weird part is, Jeeves isn't even a butler; he's a valet, a gentleman's personal gentleman.

Daisuke Ono's character in Kuroshitsuji is named Sebastian. This is also referenced in Maria Sama Ga Miteru.

When I heard Konata call Minoru Sebastian in Lucky Star, I always thought it was Kuroshitsuji reference. XD

Naw, it's from Mari Mite, as Konata was parodying Sachiko in that episode.

Ohhh I see, so it was a Shout-Out.

I found it absolutely hilarious thinking she called him by stereotypical "butler name".

Quite possibly these butlers owe their names to Sebastian Beach from P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle stories. I would need to read them before I can make a serious speculation as to why he's seen as more butlery than Jeeves, but I can't help thinking that his name is more endearing. As in, "-chan" the honorific for girls and cute things, is part of his name. セバスちゃん

Ah, here's another for the pile: I've come across a drama CD called "Tatakau! Sebastian," featuring Ookawa Touru as the titular butler.

Possibly because Jeeves is not a butler. He's a gentleman's personal gentleman - a valet.

I've seen a couple of sources claim that it's due to an influential Japanese adaptation of Heidi (an 1960's anime version, I think?); one of the characters in Heidi has a butler called Sebastian, and apparently he was very popular.

Also, who thinks we need a trope for butlers called Sebastian?

I do.

Feel free to YKTTW it...

The Usami family butler in Junjou Romantica is referred to as Sebastian by one or two characters as well.

Another example: In the fifth chapter of the Mayoi Neko Overrun manga, Chise calls her butler "Sebastian," and he remarks, "My name is Tanaka."

Moving a trifle off-topic, in one of the original Get Smart episodes, there was a character named Sebastian who was never seen until his corpse fell out from behind a door — murdered by, as it turned out, the butler. "I hated [Name]. I hated [Another name]. And as you can see, I wasn't too fond of Sebastian, either."

YKTTW'ed

There's also a Sebastian in the Square Enix game Nier.

Yu Gi Oh 5 Ds had one also named Sebastian for a little while.

Suikoden 3 Thomas's butlers name is Sebastian. Also in Episode 4 of Phi Brain, the old mistresses butler has this name.

A non-Japanese source is in the new Nickolodean TV show "Big Time Rush" ep.19-20 where Jake when breaking away from the band gets his own personal butler with the name... you guessed it... Sebastian. I think this has enough references where it can be a trope.