Walter

English

Etymology

Germanic wald "rule" + heri, hari "army".

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔːltə(r)

Proper noun

Walter

1. A male given name.
   • ~1590 William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part II, Act IV, Scene I

     Whitmore. And so am I; my name is Walter Whitmore. / How now! why start'st thou? what! doth death affright?

     Suffolk. Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death. / A cunning man did calculate my birth, / And told me that by Water I should die. / Yet let not this make thee be bloody-minded; / Thy name is - Gaultier, being rightly sounded.

   • 1991 Julian Barnes, Talking It Over, ISBN 0-224-03157-0 page 13:

     And with some appellations, the contrary applies. Like Walter, for instance. You can't be Walter in a pram. You can't be Walter until you're about seventy-five in my view.

Related terms

• (pet forms) Wally, Walt, Wat
• (surnames) Gwatkin, Walters, Waters, Waterson, Watkin, Watkins, Watkinson, Watson, Watt, Watts

Translations

male given name

• Bengali: ওয়াল্টার (bn)
• Catalan: Gualter
• Czech: Valtr
• Dutch: Wouter (nl)
• Esperanto: Valtero (eo)
• Estonian: Valter (et)
• Finnish: Valtteri (fi)
• French: Gauthier (fr)
• Galician: Gualterio
• German: Walter (de), Walther (de)
• Hungarian: Valter (hu)
• Icelandic: Valtýr (is), Valter (is)

• Irish: Ualtar
• Italian: Gualtiero (it)
• Latin: Gualterius
• Latvian: Valters
• Lithuanian: Valteris (lt)
• Low German: Wöltje
• Polish: Walter (pl)
• Portuguese: Guálter, Gualtério
• Serbo-Croatian: Valter (sh)
• Slovene: Valter (sl)
• Spanish: Gualtério
• Swedish: Valter (sv)

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German

Alternative forms

• Walther

Etymology

From Old High German waltan (“to rule”) + heri (“army”). Cognate with English Walter.

Proper noun

Walter

1. A male given name.
2. A common patronymic surname.

Usage notes

• Popular given name in Germany since the Middle Ages due to Walter of Aquitaine, a legendary Visigoth king celebrated in German folklore.

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Swedish

Proper noun

Walter

1. A male given name, variant spelling of Valter.