Walter
A Germanic name meaning "ruler of the army". In Poland it stays rare: only about 2,000 men carry it, and most people here have never met one.
Walter Pronunciation
Walter is pronounced VAHL-ter (/ˈvaltɛr/).
What Walter means
Where Walter comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Walter grew from two old Germanic words. Wald meant to rule, and heri meant the army, so the name reads as ruler of the army. English and German families both kept it, and it crossed into England with the Normans, who spoke the Old French form Gualter.
Medieval Germany handed it to Walther von der Vogelweide, the Minnesinger whose poems survive from around the year 1200. England later gave it to Sir Walter Raleigh and to the novelist Walter Scott, so the name settled on both sides of the North Sea.
Polish speakers meet it through a different gloss: władca ludu, ruler of the people. That reading widened the old heri, the fighting army, into the broader folk a ruler stands over. On a school register a Walter still reads as a guest from German. The bones of the word stay the same. Wald to rule, heri the army.
How many people are named Walter
1 in 9598 men in Poland is named Walter. 2,224 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #680 among male names.
Walter's popularity over time
3 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1390 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2022. Still the #680 name among living men, even as it slips to #1390 among newborns.
Where Walter is most popular
Walter is most popular in Pomeranian, 1367% above the national average (4 boys born 2019–2025).
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Pomeranian4 boys born+1367%
Walter as a middle name
Walter is a first name for 2,224 men in Poland and a middle name for another 1,619, a 58/42 split — almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 188th, between Ariel (1,658) and Anthony (1,536).
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186
1,716Roland
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187
1,658Ariel
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1881,619Walter
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189
1,536Anthony
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190
1,526Singh
When Walter celebrates name day
Walter appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 5 June.