Meaning and background
The story behind Walter
Walter is a long-established personal name derived from Germanic elements for authority or power and an army. The Normans helped establish the name in England, where it displaced a related Old English form. This is the historical meaning behind shorter versions such as Walt and Wally, though those shorter forms can also have other connections. Walter has a measured two-syllable British pronunciation.
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About Walter
Recorded as a dog’s name
Walter appears in 72 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/wɔltɚ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/wɔltɚ/ · primary stress on syllable 1W AO1 L T ER0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.