Butters attends South Park Elementary as part of Mr. Garrison's (later Mrs. Garrison's) 4th grade class (which was taken over by Ms. Nelson after Garrison became the 45th President of the United States in season 19). 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, referencing the terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, another sign of his misfortunes. 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.