Walter (name)

Walter

Portrait of Sir Walter Scott by Thomas Lawrence
Pronunciation	val-ter (Walter, German) valt-her (Walther, German) walt-er (Walter, English)
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/name	Germanic
Meaning	Army ruler, powerful ruler
Region of origin	Northern Europe
Other names
Nickname(s)	Wally, Walt
Related names	Walther, Valter, Valtyr, Wouter, Gauthier, Gualtiero, Gutierre, Gualter, Guterres, Gutiérrez, Valteri, Valtteri, Valters

Walter is a German and English^[1] masculine given name of Germanic origin, composed of the elements walt- (Proto-Germanic *wald-) "power", "ruler", and hari (Proto-Germanic *χarja) "army".^[2]

The name was first popularized by the epic German hero Walther von Aquitaine, and later from the name of the writer Walther von der Vogelweide.

The name is first recorded in the 6th century, with Walthari son of Wacho, who was king of the Lombards during 539–546. Old Germanic forms are recorded as Walthari, Waltari, Walthar, Waltar, Waltere, Waldheri, Waldhere, Waltheri, Walthere, Walther, Walter, Waldher, and Valter. The Old English equivalent is Wealdhere, Old Norse has Valðar and Valdarr.^[3] The name entered the French language as Gauthier, Spanish as Gutierre, Portuguese as Gualter and Italian as Gualtiero. The modern Dutch form of the name is Wouter. The German name has also been adopted in a number of languages in the spelling Valter.

The Latinized form is Waltharius, the title of a poem of the late 9th or early 10th century on the legendary Gothic king Walter of Aquitaine. A fragmentary Old English poem on the same character is known as Waldere. Jacob Grimm in Teutonic Mythology speculates that Walthari, literally "wielder of hosts", may have been an epithet of the god of war, Ziu or Eor, and that the circumstance that the hero of the Waltharius poems loses his right hand in battle may be significant, linking him to the Norse tradition of Tyr.