Walter

What Walter means

Means “ruler + army, host”

A Germanic name, from Middle English Walter, from Old Northern French Waltier, from Frankish *Waltheri (compare Old High German Waltheri, which see for more details), from Proto-West Germanic *Waldahari, from Proto-Germanic *Waldaharjaz, fr

Source: Wiktionary, “Walter” (revision 94544587), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Walter?

US: Rising: up from #309 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #393 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1892, when 2,229 boys got the name (#13 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,237 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,141 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 2,455 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in VT (4.13 per 1,000 boys), ND (3.58 per 1,000 boys), MN (3.18 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Walter is #251 in the US and #334 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Walter were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Wilder743 US · 31 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Nicknames

• Wally
• Walt
• Wat

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Walter

Boys

• Robin#703Diminutive of Robert, meaning “shining glory”^*
• Lewis#433Same root as Louis, meaning “loud; famous + battle”^*
• Warren#240“river, water”^*
• Otis#652Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #71 vs #652 in 2025
• Roland#607“fame-land”^*
• Frederick#435“peace king, peaceful ruler”^*

For a sister

• Billie#691Diminutive of William, meaning “will + helmet”^*
• Robin#704Diminutive of Robert, meaning “shining glory”^*
• Louisa#694Form of Louis, meaning “loud; famous + battle”^*
• Amalia#566“vigor, bravery”^*
• Alice#65“noble + character”^*
• Astrid#376Danish, from Old Norse Ástríðr, meaning “god + beautiful, originally…^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Walter’s. Rank is US 2025.