Boyd County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,810. Its county seat is Butte. The county was formed in 1891 and named after James E. Boyd, the governor of Nebraska at the time.

James Edward Boyd was an Irish-born American businessman and politician in early Omaha, Nebraska. The founder of Boyd's Packing House and Boyd's Theater and Opera House, he served as the Mayor of Omaha from 1881 to 1883 and from 1885 to 1887, and as the seventh Governor of the state of Nebraska in 1891 and from 1892 – 1893.