Named after Buch, an old village whose name probably means ‘beech’.
The name is traced to a Slavic origin: according to the Brandenburgisches Namenbuch it most likely comes from Old Polabian buk, ‘beech’, with the Middle Low German böke (‘beech’) soon blending in. When first recorded in 1342 the village was called Wendeschen Buk – ‘Wendish Buch’ – and the Landbuch of 1375 lists it as Buch slavica.