Walter
Feminine · “ruler of the army”
Walter is given to boys far more often — 631,172 boys against 3,632 girls since 1880. See Walter as a boy name
Walter is a Germanic name that French could not say. French had no w of its own, and every Germanic name beginning with one came out the other side with a g: Wilhelm became Guillaume, Warin became Guarin, and Walter became Gautier. English ended up with both forms and has treated them as different names ever since.
How old is the name Walter?
Walter was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Walter alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 1,300 people named Walter are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Walter most popular?
Walter peaked in 1881, reaching #503 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Waldheri to Walter
The story of Walter
The name's most unfortunate bearer set out for Jerusalem before the real armies did. Walter Sansavoir — Walter the Penniless, in English — led part of the People's Crusade, a mass of poorly armed pilgrims who marched across Europe ahead of the knights, fought their way through Hungary, crossed into Asia Minor without waiting for anyone, and were destroyed almost to the last man. He died in the ambush. The name itself did far better: the Normans carried it to England, where it became one of the standard names of the medieval population, then a surname many times over, and eventually a name so ordinary that its Germanic origins were entirely forgotten.
Meaning
ruler of the army
The Germanic waldan, to rule, and heri, an army. The compound is one of the oldest and commonest patterns in the Germanic name stock.
How the name formed
- Waldheri
- Walter
Related forms: Gautier · Gualtiero · Gualterio · Walther · Walter
Pronouncing Walter
WAWL-tur
Two syllables with the weight at the front. German says VAL-ter, and the French and Italian forms are unrecognizable as the same name.
Nicknames for Walter
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1925100 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #503reached in 1881
- Change vs 1993
- −25.0%6 in 1995, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Walter in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gautier in French — same name
- Gualtiero in Italian — same name
- Gualterio in Spanish — same name
- Walther in German — spelling variant
- Walter in Polish — same name
Walters among us
people named Walter are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Walter sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing across the English-speaking world.
- Walt is a short form that has aged better than most of its generation.
- It has an unbroken documented history of more than a thousand years and forms in every western European language.
- It has been common long enough to be entirely unremarkable, which is a strength if you want a name that does not announce itself.
- It is strongly associated with an older generation, though it has begun to return.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
- In British English the short form Wally carries a meaning nobody wants.
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Walter
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Walters are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Walter are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Walter in 2025?
- Walter is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Walter with classmates?
- Walter will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More W names
The most-given names starting with W, all years combined.
Wanda#5917 · Wendy#1341 · Willie#10107 · Wilma#3645 · Whitney#1043 · Willow#44 · Winifred#922 · Willa#422
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Walter? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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