Walter or Walther is a masculine given name, from an Old High German

Old High German

The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...

 Walthari, containing the elements wald "rule" and hari "army, warrior".

The latizined form is Waltharius

Waltharius

Waltharius, a Latin poem founded on German popular tradition, relates the exploits of the west Gothic hero Walter of Aquitaine.-History:Our knowledge of the author, Ekkehard, a monk of St. Gall, is due to a later Ekkehard, known as Ekkehard IV , who gives some account of him in the Casus Sancti Galli...

, the title of a poem on the legendary Gothic king Walter of Aquitaine

Walter of Aquitaine

Walter of Aquitaine is a legendary king of the Visigoths. He figures in several epic poems and narratives in medieval languages:* Waldere, an Old English fragment* Waltharius, a Latin epic written by the monk Ekkehard I of St Gall...

. A fragmentary Old English poem on the same character is known as Waldere

Waldere

Waldere or Waldhere is the conventional title given to two Old English fragments from a lost epic poem, discovered in 1860 by E. C. Werlauff, Librarian, in the Danish Royal Library at Copenhagen, where it is still preserved. The parchment pages had been reused as stiffening in the binding of an...

. The Dutch equivalent of the name is Wouter

Wouter

Wouter is a Dutch given male name. It's the Dutch equivalent of Walter. Both are Germanic male names, and mean "ruler of the army" or "ruler of the forest". The name is sometimes shortened to Wout.-See also:*Walter...

. The name also entered the French language as Gauthier

Gauthier

Gauthier is a French surname and may refer to:*Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède...

.

Jacob Grimm

Jacob Grimm

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy...

 in Teutonic Mythology

Deutsche Mythologie

Deutsche Mythologie is a seminal treatise on Germanic mythology by Jacob Grimm. First published in Germany in 1835, the work is an exhaustive treatment of the subject, tracing the mythology and beliefs of the Ancient Germanic peoples from their earliest attestations to their survivals in modern...

speculates that Walthari, literally "wielder of hosts", may have been an epithet of the god of war, Ziu or Eor

EOR

EOR could refer to:* Earth Orbit Rendezvous, a proposed method for space missions to the Moon* Electro-optic rectification, a non-linear optical process* Enhanced oil recovery, a term in petroleum production...

, 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.

Surname

• Andrew Walter
  Andrew Walter
  Andrew Scott Walter is a former American football quarterback in National Football League. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft after playing college football at Arizona State....
  
   (born 1982), American football quarterback
• Ben Walter
  Ben Walter
  Ben James Walter is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre currently playing with the Calgary Flames in the National Hockey League...
  
   (born 1984), Canadian ice hockey player
• Bruno Walter
  Bruno Walter
  Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
  
   (1876–1962), German-American conductor and composer
• Eugene Walter
  Eugene Walter
  Eugene Ferdinand Walter, Jr. was an American screenwriter, poet, short-story author, actor, puppeteer, gourmet chef, cryptographer, translator, editor, costume designer and well-known raconteur. During his years in Paris, he was nicknamed Tum-te-tum...
  
   (1921–1998), American writer and actor
• Francis E. Walter
  Francis E. Walter
  Francis Eugene Walter was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
  
   (1894–1963), American politician
• Fritz Walter
  Fritz Walter (politician)
  Fritz Walter was a German politician of FDP....
  
   (1896–1977), German politician
• Fritz Walter (1900–1981), German football executive
• Fritz Walter
  Fritz Walter
  Friedrich "Fritz" Walter was a German footballer. In his time with the German national team, he won 61 caps and scored 33 goals.-Early club career:...
  
   (1920–2002), German footballer
• Fritz Walter (born 1960), German footballer
• Harriet Walter
  Harriet Walter
  Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
  
   (born 1950), British actress
• Hellmuth Walter
  Hellmuth Walter
  Hellmuth Walter was a German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines...
  
   (1900–1980), German engineer
• Hubert Walter
  Hubert Walter
  Hubert Walter was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter began the keeping of the Charter Roll, a record of all charters issued by the...
  
   (c. 1160 – 13 July 1205), English archbishop and justiciar
• Jamie Campbell-Walter
  Jamie Campbell-Walter
  Jamie Campbell-Walter is a British professional racing driver. He was born in Oban, Scotland in 16 December 1972. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2000.-Family:...
  
   (born 1972), British professional racing driver
• Jean Walter
  Jean Walter
  Jean Walter, , was a French architect who mainly worked for public housing, hospital architecture, and condominiums .- Life :...
  
   (1883–1957), French architect
• Jessica Walter
  Jessica Walter
  Jessica Walter is an American actress, known for the films Play Misty for Me, Grand Prix, and for her role as Lucille Bluth on the sitcom Arrested Development...
  
   (born 1941), American actress
• Joachim Walter
  Joachim Walter
  Joachim Walter ) is a former East German football player. He played for SC Aufbau Magdeburg, later renamed 1. FC Magdeburg in the East German top flight, the DDR-Oberliga...
  
   (born 1940), East German football player
• Joe Walter (American football) (born 1963), American football tackle
• Joe Walter (footballer)
  Joe Walter (footballer)
  Joseph Dorville "Joe" Walter was a professional footballer, who played for Bristol Rovers, Huddersfield Town, Taunton United and Bath City...
  
   (1895–1995), British football player
• Joe Walter (Ohio politician)
  Joe Walter (Ohio politician)
  Joe Walter is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives, who represented the 47th District briefly in 2010. He was appointed following the resignation of Peter Ujvagi, who resigned to take the position of Lucas County Administrator....
  
   (born 1947), former member of the Ohio House of Representatives
• Joseph Walter
  Joseph Walter
  -External links:*...
  
   (1783–1856), British marine artist
• Kevin Walter
  Kevin Walter
  Kevin Patrick Walter is an American football wide receiver for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the seventh round of the 2003 NFL Draft...
  
   (born 1981), American football wide receiver
• Ottmar Walter
  Ottmar Walter
  Ottmar Kurt Herrmann Walter is a former German footballer.He played together with his brother, Fritz Walter, at the club 1. FC Kaiserslautern. They also played together for the Germany national football team in the 1954 FIFA World Cup. Ottmar scored 4 goals in the tournament as West Germany won...
  
   (born 1924), German footballer
• Ryan Walter
  Ryan Walter
  Ryan William Walter is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League...
  
   (born 1958), Canadian hockey player
• Thomas Walter
  Thomas Walter (botanist)
  Thomas Walter was a British-born American botanist. He is best known for his book Flora Caroliniana , an early yet fairly complete catalog of the flowering plants of South Carolina.-References:...
  
   (1740–1789), British-born American botanist
• Thomas U. Walter
  Thomas U. Walter
  Thomas Ustick Walter of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was an American architect, the dean of American architecture between the 1820 death of Benjamin Latrobe and the emergence of H.H. Richardson in the 1870s...
  
   (1804–1887), American architect
• Tracey Walter
  Tracey Walter
  Tracey Walter is an American character actor. He has appeared in over 100 films and television shows.-Life and career:Walter was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a truck driver....
  
   (born 1947), American character actor
• Ulrich Walter
  Ulrich Walter
  Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hans Walter is a German physicist/engineer and a former DFVLR astronaut.Walter was born in Iserlohn, Germany. After finishing secondary school there and two years in the Bundeswehr, he studied physics at the University of Cologne...
  
   (born 1954), German astronaut
• Ombiro Walter(born 1981), A Kenyan Educationist and Computer Engineer

Given name

• Walter Cronkite
  Walter Cronkite
  Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
  
   (1916-2009), American journalist
• Walter Crucce
  Walter Crucce
  Walter Crucce is a retired male boxer from Argentina, who won the gold medal in the men's light-welterweight category at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata. In the final he defeated Puerto Rico's Luis Deines Pérez...
  
  , Argentine boxer
• Walter Disney, American film producer
• Walter fitz Gilbert of Cadzow
  Walter fitz Gilbert of Cadzow
  Sir Walter fitz Gilbert of Cadzow, 1st Laird of Cadzow was a Scottish nobleman. The son of Gilbert fitz William of Hameldone, and an unknown wife, possibly Isabelle Randolph...
  
  , medieval Scottish nobleman
• Walter Gropius
  Walter Gropius
  Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
  
  , German architect
• Walter Johnson
  Walter Johnson
  Walter Perry Johnson , nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators...
  
  , American baseball pitcher, Hall of Fame member
• Walter Kirn
  Walter Kirn
  Walter Kirn is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. His latest book is the 2009 memoir Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever.-Overview:...
  
  , American author
• Walter Koenig
  Walter Koenig
  Walter Marvin Koenig is an American actor, writer, teacher and director, known for his roles as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5. He wrote the script for the 2008 science fiction legal thriller InAlienable.-Early life:...
  
   (born 1936), American actor
• Walter Matthau
  Walter Matthau
  Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
  
   (1920-2000), American actor
• Walter Mondale
  Walter Mondale
  Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
  
  , Vice President of the United States
• Walter Dean Myers
  Walter Dean Myers
  Walter Dean Myers is an African American author of young adult literature. Myers has written over fifty books, including novels and nonfiction works. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors five times...
  
  , author
• Walter Niephaus
  Walter Niephaus
  Walter Niephaus was a German chess master.-Biography:Born in Mörs am Niederrhein , he won Frankfurt City Championship in March 1942, won ahead of Fritz Sämisch and Ludwig Rellstab at Bad Elster in May 1942.He took 11th at Bad Oeynhausen 1942 , and won ahead of Klaus Junge at...
  
  , German chess master
• Walter Payton
  Walter Payton
  Walter Jerry Payton was an American football running back who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League for thirteen seasons. Walter Payton was known around the NFL as "Sweetness". He is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in the history of American football...
  
  , American football player
• Walter Pedraza
  Walter Pedraza
  Walter Fernando Pedraza Morales is a male professional road racing cyclist from Colombia.-Career:20002001...
  
  , Colombian road cyclist
• Walter Schreifels
  Walter Schreifels
  Walter Schreifels is a rock musician and producer from New York City.In the late 1980s, he played in many New York hardcore bands, most notably Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits . After Gorilla Biscuits broke up, he formed the short lived Moondog...
  
  , American musician
• Walter Scott
  Walter Scott
  Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
  
  , Scottish novelist and poet
• Walter Scott (disambiguation)
  Walter Scott (disambiguation)
  Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish poet and novelist.Walter Scott may also refer to:*Walter Scott, 1st Earl of Buccleuch , Scottish nobleman*Sir Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) was a Scottish poet and novelist.Walter Scott may also refer to:*Walter Scott, 1st...
  
  , for several people of the name
• Walter of Serviliano
  Walter of Serviliano
  Walter was a Benedictine hermit. He later became abbot, being the founder of the monastery of Serviliano in the Marches of Ancona, Italy. This monastery was famed for the rejuvenation pioneered by religious orders in that era.-Notes:...
  
  , Italian hermit, abbot and saint
• Walter Smith
  Walter Smith
  Walter Smith, OBE is a Scottish football manager. His most recent job was at Scottish Premier League club Rangers.Smith had a relatively modest playing career, consisting of two spells with Dundee United which was split by a short time at Dumbarton.A pelvic injury meant he moved in to coaching at...
  
  , Scottish football player and manager
• Walter Stewart (disambiguation), for several people of this name
• Walter Whitman, American poet, journalist, essayist, and humanist
• Walter Bruce Willis
  Bruce Willis
  Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
  
  , American actor
• Little Walter
  Little Walter
  Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...
  
   (1930–1968), American blues harmonica player
• Walter Zapp
  Walter Zapp
  Walter Zapp was a Latvian inventor. His greatest creation was the subminiature camera .Zapp was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia. In 1934, living in Estonia, he began developing the then subminiature camera by first creating wooden models, which led to the first prototype in 1936. It was...
  
   (1905–2003), Baltic German inventor
• Walter Deleon
  Walter DeLeon
  Walter DeLeon was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 66 films between 1912 and 1953. He was born in Oakland, California, and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Scared Stiff...
  
  , American Politician, philosopher, writer

Fictional

• Walter, a puppet of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham
  Jeff Dunham
  Jeff Dunham is an American ventriloquist and stand-up comedian who has also appeared on numerous television shows, including Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central Presents, The Tonight Show and Sonny With a Chance...
  
  
• Walter
  Walter The Softy
  Walter the Softy, or Softy Walter as he is sometimes called, is the fictional antagonist of Dennis the Menace in the British children's comic The Beano. He made his first appearance in the Beano in 1953. He is a prime target of Dennis and his friends...
  
  , a enemy of Dennis and Gnasher
  Dennis the Menace (UK)
  Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
  
   from The Beano
  The Beano
  The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
  
  comic