Walter

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Guenther in PL Poland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Walter is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name4.4M records spelled Walter71 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, United States

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, English

  Also written Gunter, Gunther, Günther, Günter, Wálter

• French surname135K records spelled Walter22 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Spain, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Gautier, Gualter, Gautìer, Gaùtier, Wãltër

• a separate given name109K records spelled Walter3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, India, United Kingdom

  Also written Wálter, Walṭer

• Polish given name59K records spelled Walter35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, Croatia, Czechia

  Languages: Polish, Croatian, Czech

  Also written Valter, Валтер, Walther, Val'Ter, W̶a̶l̶t̶e̶r̶

• Portuguese given name17K records spelled Walter107 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Russia, Finland, Italy

  Languages: Portuguese, English, Russian

  Also written Valter, Válter, Вальтер, Валтер, Ვალტერ

• Finnish given name13K records spelled Walter3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Switzerland, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Wálter

110 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Walter is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Instead of the name “Wolf”, name of German origin, only to find in Johlingen and Bretten, since 1827 in Baden.

  as a name·The Origin of Jewish Family Names: Morphology and History

• In German, Germanic patronymic from *wald- ‘rule’ + *hari ‘army’; plate shows vowel variation a~o (Walter/Wolter) and related forms.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 1: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen I, Vokalismus

• In English, from Old English Walter ‘mighty army’; introduced into England in the reign of the Confessor

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, Germanic ‘rule folk’; prince of Aquitaine in legend, introduced to Ireland by the Normans.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In German, from the Germanic name stem Wald- + hari 'army'; often with later suffixes

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Walter Raleighb. 1552GBEnglish statesman, soldier and writer (1552–1618)
• Walter Brennanb. 1894USAmerican actor (1894–1974)
• Gustav Heinemannb. 1899DEnot in their usual nameGerman politician, President of Germany 1969–1974 (1899–1976)
• Walter Houser Brattainb. 1902USAmerican physicist (1902–1987)
• Luis Walter Alvarezb. 1911USAmerican experimental physicist, inventor, and professor (1911–1988)
• Christian Wulffb. 1959DEnot in their usual name10th German Federal President
• Eros Ramazzottib. 1963ITnot in their usual nameItalian musician (born 1963)
• Ray Allenb. 1975USnot in their usual nameAmerican basketball player (born 1975)
• Eden Hazardb. 1991BEnot in their usual nameBelgian footballer (born 1991)
• Joshua Kimmichb. 1995DEnot in their usual nameGerman association football player (born 1995)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,649 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Walter?

We estimate roughly 373 thousand people bear Walter (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Walter have the most bearers?

Walter is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled walter.

How common is Walter compared with other names?

In Germany, Walter is the 27th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Walter a male or female name?

Walter is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Walter mean?

Recorded meaning: From the male personal name Walter, brought by the Normans; ultimately Germanic, literally ‘rule-army’.