Walter (name)

Look up Walter or Walther in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Walter or Walther is a masculine given name, from an Old High German Walthari, containing the elements wald "rule" and hari "army, warrior".^[1]

The Latinized form is Waltharius, the title of a poem on the legendary Gothic king Walter of Aquitaine. A fragmentary Old English poem on the same character is known as Waldere. The Dutch equivalent of the name is Wouter. The name also entered the French language as Gauthier and in Spanish language as Gutierre.

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.

List of people called Walter

Surname

• Andrew Walter (born 1982), American football quarterback
• Anton Walter (1752–1826), German piano maker
• Ben Walter (born 1984), Canadian ice hockey player
• Bruno Walter (1876–1962), German-American conductor and composer
• David Walter, several people
• Eugene Walter (1921–1998), American writer and actor
• Francis E. Walter (1894–1963), American politician
• Fritz Walter (football executive) (1900–1981), German football executive
• Fritz Walter (footballer born 1960), German footballer
• Fritz Walter (politician) (1896–1977), German politician
• Fritz Walter (1920–2002), German footballer
• Harriet Walter (born 1950), British actress
• Hellmuth Walter (1900–1980), German engineer
• Hubert Walter (c. 1160 – 13 July 1205), English archbishop and justiciar
• Jamie Campbell-Walter (born 1972), British professional racing driver
• Jean Walter (1883–1957), French architect
• Jessica Walter (born 1941), American actress
• Joachim Walter (born 1940), East German football player
• Joe Walter (American football) (born 1963), American football tackle
• Joe Walter (footballer) (1895–1995), British football player
• Joe Walter (Ohio politician) (born 1947), former member of the Ohio House of Representatives
• Joseph Walter (1783–1856), British marine artist
• Kevin Walter (born 1981), American football wide receiver
• Ottmar Walter (1924–2013), German footballer
• Owen Walter (born 1979), Canadian ice hockey defenceman
• Raymond Walter (born 1972), New York State Assemblyman
• Ryan Walter (born 1958), Canadian hockey player
• Thomas U. Walter (1804–1887), American architect
• Thomas Walter (botanist) (1740–1789), British-born American botanist
• Tracey Walter (born 1947), American character actor
• Ulrich Walter (born 1954), German astronaut

Given name

• Walter Baxter (1915–1994), an English novelist
• Walter Cronkite (1916–2009), an American journalist
• Walter Crucce, an Argentine boxer
• Walter Disney, an American film producer
• Walter fitz Gilbert of Cadzow, a medieval Scottish nobleman
• Walter Forster (disambiguation)
• Walter Gropius, a German architect
• Walter Johnson, an American baseball pitcher, Hall of Fame member
• Walter von Keudell (1884–1973), a German forest expert and politician
• Walter Kirn, an American author
• Walter Koenig (born 1936), an American actor
• Walter Lantz, an American animator, cartoonist, and film producer
• Walter Matthau (1920–2000), an American actor
• Walter Mercado, a Puerto Rican astrologer
• Walter Mondale, a Vice President of the United States

Walter Murch, an American film editor and sound designer

• Walter Dean Myers, an author
• Walter Niephaus, a German chess master
• Walter Payton, an American football player
• Walter Pedraza, a Colombian road cyclist
• Walter Pidgeon, a Canadian actor
• Walter Poddubny, a Canadian hockey player
• Walter Romberg, a German politician
• Walter Samuel (born 1978), Argentine footballer
• Walter Schreifels, an American musician
• Walter Schirra, Mercury Seven astronaut
• Walter Scott, a Scottish novelist and poet
• Walter Scott (disambiguation), for several people of the name
• Walter of Serviliano, an Italian hermit, abbot and saint
• Walter Smith, a Scottish football player and manager
• Walter Shaw Sparrow (1862–1940), a British writer on art and architecture
• Walter Stewart (disambiguation), for several people of this name
• Walter Veltroni, an Italian writer, journalist and politician
• Walter Whitman, an American poet, journalist, essayist and humanist
• Walter Bruce Willis, an American actor
• Little Walter (1930–1968), an American blues harmonica player
• Walter Zapp (1905–2003), a Baltic German inventor
• "Agent Walter", early codename of Josip Broz Tito

Fictional

• Walter, a Muppet character introduced in the film The Muppets
• Walter, a puppet of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham
• Walter the Softy, a enemy of Dennis and Gnasher from The Beano comic
• Walter Donovan, the main antagonist of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Walter E. Kurtz, the main antagonist of Apocalypse Now
• Walter Mitty, the title character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
• Corporal Walter Eugine "Radar" O’Reilly, M*A*S*H character
• Walter Newell, secret identity of Stingray (comics), a Marvel Comics character
• Walter Sobchak, Vietnam veteran and best friend of "The Dude" in the Coen Brothers' film "The Big Lebowski"
• Walter White, the protagonist of the TV series Breaking Bad
• Dr. Walter Bishop, a scientist on the TV series Fringe

See also

• Valter
• Walters (disambiguation)
• Wat (disambiguation)

References