Name Awesome

Walt

#3,375 in 2025Boys' name

Ruler + army, host, through Walter

Walt has been given to 2,634 babies in the U.S. since 1893. In 2025 it ranked #3,375 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1959, with 81 recorded.

Babies named Walt, 2025

1 in 94,700

Walt over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Walt: meaning, origin, and history

Ruler + army, host, through Walter

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Walt means

Walt belongs to the name family reached through Walt → Walter. Its meaning is “ruler + army, host”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Clipping of Walter. The derogatory British sense is a reference to the fictional character Walter Mitty from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a mild-mannered pushover who has wild fantasies about his life in various daring roles.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Walt (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Walt is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Walter.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Walt is pronounced /wɔːlt/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,634 boys were recorded with the name Walt between 1893 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 81 in 1959; its best national rank was #841 in 1959.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,881 in 2020 to #3,375 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,697 in 2015 to #3,375 in 2025.

How common is Walt?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 94,700
35 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 48,800
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,375
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
65,655 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Walt sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 65,655 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Walt. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Walts were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Walt was born before 1961 — so the typical Walt is around 64 today.

Median birth year
1961
About 64 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
15.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
22.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,748
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 15.9% of all recorded uses (419).

Is Walt rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+75
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−494
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,322
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.67×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
43.2%
Peak was 1959 (81)
Years since peak
66
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#841
1959

Spellings of Walt

Walt is not the most common spelling — Walter is, with 41.3% against Walt's 0.17%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Walt is used

Across 1910–2025, Walt was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 228,790 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in 100,000
  3. 3Utah1 in 100,000
  4. 4Washington1 in 100,000
  5. 5Alabama1 in —
  6. 6Louisiana1 in —
  7. 7Michigan1 in —
  8. 8Mississippi1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Walt has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Walt around the world

Where Walt ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2008–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Notable people named Walt

People whose public names include Walt, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Walt in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Walt. Linked forms have their own page here.

WalterValts

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Walt by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,375
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 494
Best rank ever
#841
1959
Peak year
1959
81 that year
First recorded
1893
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,634
Count in 2025
35

Names similar to Walt

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

WaliWallyWaldoWalidWaleedWaldenWaltonWaldemarWaldonWallisWalkerWallenWallieWaleWallerWaltherWallaceGeraltWalfredWaldronWalesWalleyWaldyWalsh

Names with a curve like Walt

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Walt, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

DarelClarkeDarvinVonRoddyLouVicArlanStaffordMelWindellLawrance

Sibling names for Walt

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Walt

Top names of 1959, Walt's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1959Boys' names starting with W