| The boy name Walter [ 2 syll. wal-ter, wa-lt-er ] is pronounced as WAOLTer KEY. Walter is primarily used in English, French, German, and Scandinavian, and its language of origin is Germanic. Derived from the elements 'wald' which means to rule ; 'heri' which means army, warrior ; 'waldhar' which means army ruler, folk ruler. An old form of the name is the Old English Wealdhere. The name is from 'waldhar' which is itself of the elements 'wald' and 'heri'. The Normans introduced the name to England in the 11th century, replacing the Old English Wealdhere. The original pronuncation of the name Walter with a silent 'l' gave rise to various forms with a droppped 'l'. The name was borne by the famous German lyric poet Walther von der Vogelweide (1170-1230), the English explorer and writer Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), and the prolific Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). Walter has 16 variations, which are mainly used in other languages. Variations of Walter include the Scottish Bhaltair, the Scottish Bhàtair, the French Gauthier, the French Gautier, the Italian and Spanish Gualtiero, the Welsh Gwallter, the Scandinavian Valter, the Finnish Valtteri, the German Walther, the Dutch and German Wolter, and the Dutch Wouter. The short form Weit (Dutch) is another foreign variant. Walter is a classic favorite. Currently it is still a fairly popular baby name for boys, though to a lesser extent than it was in the past. Its usage peaked in 1901 with 1.487% of baby boys being named Walter. It ranked at #12 then. The baby name has since steeply slipped in popularity, and is of occasional use in recent times. In 2007, its usage was only 0.037% and its ranking #378, but it was nevertheless the most frequently used among all boy names in its group. The name Walter has been mostly given to boys, though it has also been used as a girl name in the past century. In 1939, the name Walter was given to 144 times more boys than girls. Baby names that sound like Walter include the German name Walther and the Dutch and German name Wolter. KEY: Pronunciation for Walter: W as in "we (W.IY)" ; AO as in "ought (AO.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; T as in "tea (T.IY)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)"
Details of famous persons named Walter:
Actor Stacy Keach, born Walter Stacy Keach, Jr, 2 June 1941, Savannah, Georgia.
Actor Walter Koenig, born 14 September 1936, Chicago, Illinois.
Actor Walter Matthau, born 1 October 1920 - 1 July 2000, New York, New York.
Columnist Walter Mossberg, born Walter Stephen Mossberg, 27 March 1947, Providence, Rhode Island.
Explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, born 1552 - 29 October 1618, Devonshire, England.
Fictional Ninny Walter Mitty, born 1939.
Filmmaker Walter Murch, born 1943, New York, New York.
Political Figure Walter "Fritz" Mondale, born Walter Frederick Mondale, 5 January 1928, Ceylon, Minnesota.
TV Newscaster Walter Cronkite, born Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., 4 November 1916, St. Joseph, Missouri.
Writer Sir Walter Scott, born 15 August 1771 - 21 September 1832, Edinburgh, Scotland. |
