Popularity of the name Walter, 1880–2025

Walter was at its most popular in 1892, when 2,229 boys were given the name: about 1 in 55 boys born in the U.S. that year, ranking #13. In 2025, 1,381 boys were named Walter, ranking #251. In all, Social Security counts 631,172 boys named Walter since 1880. Social Security’s records also list 3,632 girls named Walter. Its peak falls in the earliest years of the records, and counts from before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a Social Security card.

Peak year

1892

Rank in 1892

#13

Babies in 1892

2,229

Rank in 2025

#251

Total since 1880

631,172

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name climbed from #309 in 2015 to #251 in 2025: 1,158 boys got it in 2015, and 1,381 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 1910s, when 89,145 boys were named Walter, #11 for the decade. It ranked #13 in the 1880s and #267 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 1,755 in 1880 (#13), 2,298 in 1900 (#12), 13,294 in 1920 (#13), 7,723 in 1940 (#25), 5,763 in 1960 (#70), 2,009 in 1980 (#137), 949 in 2000 (#308) and 1,240 in 2020 (#272).

Highs and lows

The most boys given the name in a single year was 13,338, in 1918. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more boys for 1918 than for 1892, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank in any year was #10, first reached in 1914.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1880 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 boys named Walter, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.