Walter
Walter is ranked 271st among boys in 2024 (1,264 births). Its best rank was 10th, in 1914.
- Rank in 2024
- #271down 4 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 1,2640.07% of boys
- Peak year
- 191813,338 births
- Best rank
- #10in 1914
- Since 1880
- 633,415people given the name
The story in the numbers
629,783 boys have been named Walter in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1918, with 13,338 births — 1.3% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 1,264 births in 2024, against 13,338 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1935, and the 1920s alone account for 19%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 93 of them in the top 100 and 1 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 3,632 girls have also been given it, 0.57% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Walter | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 18,185 | |
| 1890s | 19,495 | |
| 1900s | 19,997 | |
| 1910s | 89,145 | |
| 1920s | 119,809 | |
| 1930s | 80,906 | |
| 1940s | 83,726 | |
| 1950s | 72,196 | |
| 1960s | 45,932 | |
| 1970s | 25,729 | |
| 1980s | 17,568 | |
| 1990s | 12,020 | |
| 2000s | 8,132 | |
| 2010s | 10,606 | |
| 2020s | 6,337 |
In 1918, its biggest year
Walter was the 11th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1918 were John, William, James, Robert and Charles. See all of 1918.
Names that rose and fell with Walter
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Albertpeak 1921
- Arthurpeak 1921
- Lymanpeak 1917
- Horacepeak 1921
- Hughpeak 1916
- Millardpeak 1922
- Dorseypeak 1916
- Harmonpeak 1921
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.