Page 2 | Thoughts on Walter?

verdas · 2026-07-03T07:06:11+00:00

It’s a family name and our daughter also has an older family name. I’m just worried it’s too old/strong. Other older boy name suggestions are welcome!

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ExplodingSmittens · 04/07/2026 16:42

Edenmum2 · 03/07/2026 08:14

I’m in my 40’s and have never heard of Walter the Softy. I would think of breaking bad but it’s not necessarily bad thing. I think it’s cute.

I’m on my 50s and it really wouldn’t spring to mind for me either.

OP I’d use it if you love it. It’s a great name and won’t date as badly as some Uber popular names.

mathanxiety · 04/07/2026 16:38

I know a really nice Walter, but tbh I don't like the name at all. Even Denis would be nicer.

Alternatives:
Conrad
Sidney
Stanley
Robin
Matthew
Dexter
Robert
Franklin
Barnaby
Roy
Roland
Myles
Clement
Eugene
Austin

BigSkies2022 · 04/07/2026 16:10

I think of Walt Whitman, US poet. Or Walter White, in Breaking Bad. Or Walter the protagonist in Jonathan Franzen’s novel Freedom. Is it very much an American name ? There’s Walter Bagehot, the historian. Sir Walter Raleigh, swashbuckler (think Lord Flashheart) in Elizabeth I’s reign (was he hanged for treason?) Walter Scott, novelist.

I’d probably go for Walt(Disney!) than Walter but yeah, I like it.

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 14:43

SueKeeper · 04/07/2026 14:38

I think this is a regional thing, so it depends where you live and the kind of life he's likely to have. If you are in the SE and private school, he'll be fine. Other names that sound very wet to me are back in fashion there, like Rupert or Percy, but not where I live, so it probably fits in great in places with these names.

Rupert is a bear 😍

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 14:41

AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle · 04/07/2026 14:05

Ah, OK, I didn't get the link - thanks. I've observed it as a surname but never before as a first name. I've still heard of far, far more Walters (as a first name) than Carews, though.

Even if a name does have previous for being that of a very famous person or associated with them, though, I notice that there aren't many Isambards around nowadays!!

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I am all for bringing back Isambards!

SueKeeper · 04/07/2026 14:38

I think this is a regional thing, so it depends where you live and the kind of life he's likely to have. If you are in the SE and private school, he'll be fine. Other names that sound very wet to me are back in fashion there, like Rupert or Percy, but not where I live, so it probably fits in great in places with these names.

AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle · 04/07/2026 14:05

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 13:07

Carew Raleigh was Sir Walter Raleigh's son.
It is a not uncommon surname, too.

Like Walter, Carew is a two-syllable name that is serious but not heavy.

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Ah, OK, I didn't get the link - thanks. I've observed it as a surname but never before as a first name. I've still heard of far, far more Walters (as a first name) than Carews, though.

Even if a name does have previous for being that of a very famous person or associated with them, though, I notice that there aren't many Isambards around nowadays!!

PrimeSeason · 04/07/2026 13:56

Lovely! Go for it. Older names are being used so much more these days and I think it’s lovely.

Ninetysixdegreesintheshade · 04/07/2026 13:13

Awful name. Nothing cute about it at all.

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 13:07

AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle · 04/07/2026 12:10

Is Carew a traditional name for a person? It only makes me think of Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool - latterly known as Seaton Canoe after the famous life insurance fraud scandal!

Show quote history

Carew Raleigh was Sir Walter Raleigh's son.
It is a not uncommon surname, too.

Like Walter, Carew is a two-syllable name that is serious but not heavy.

AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle · 04/07/2026 12:13

"what an old man's name?, how can you call a baby that", you would be better with Liam, Jamie, Oscar, Archie, Louis, Ethan

Do they not know that Archie/Archibald used to be very much an old man's name, until it came back into popular use again more recently?!

Mind, it still blows my mind that there's a cool, hip young popstar called Mabel - so what would I know?!

AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle · 04/07/2026 12:10

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 00:43

How about:
Carew
Grenville
Louis
Philip

Is Carew a traditional name for a person? It only makes me think of Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool - latterly known as Seaton Canoe after the famous life insurance fraud scandal!

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 04/07/2026 10:04

Walter is nice but Wally isn’t. Pity really.

thunderclouds76 · 04/07/2026 09:59

Really dislike it

avignon1234 · 04/07/2026 01:52

I like it. It is a family name for us also. I had an Uncle Wal (never called Wally etc.), and my GF was called Walter. 21 years ago I called my son Stan (a family war time reference), and everyone said the same sort of things, "what an old man's name?, how can you call a baby that", you would be better with Liam, Jamie, Oscar, Archie, Louis, Ethan (and another thousand suggestions) but I stuck to my guns. I have never regretted it, and he loves his name, even now. He was the only one is school with the name. He also knows he was named for a family reason, and is fond of this. If you like it, then go for it, and don't listen to the doubters. If you have to compromise, a middle name. Then they can choose later what they are known by. x

BoredZelda · 04/07/2026 00:45

Love it. Little baby Walter!

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 00:43

How about:
Carew
Grenville
Louis
Philip

AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle · 04/07/2026 00:32

Snorlaxo · 03/07/2026 15:33

Not if your surname is White

Or Wallcarpet

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 00:16

oldestmumaintheworld · 03/07/2026 09:24

It's awful. Up there with Wilfred and Albert. First World War vibes.

I like that.

Any1ForTennis · 04/07/2026 00:15

Still seems like an old man name to me. Not yet in the old dead man and therefore modern and trendy phase.

Also avoid if your surname is Wilson.

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 00:13

Allseeingallknowing · 03/07/2026 18:10

All these old names have come back though,eg Arthur!

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I wish Arthur would come back 🤴

OtterandaRock · 04/07/2026 00:11

Walter is Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe's poetic, queer-coded son, who dies in World War I in Rilla of Ingleside and is buried 'somewhere in France'.

Walt Whitman -- also poetic and queer, but heartier and longer-lived.

Less good: Walter Mitty, pitiful fictional daydreamy loser.

Most heroic: Walter Raleigh.

Many European and South Asian accents will turn the 'W' to 'V'. Valterrr.

How about Walter as a middle name, for tradition's sake?

Viviennemary · 04/07/2026 00:11

It's beyond dire. Just awful.

Orlando27 · 03/07/2026 23:56

It’s dreadful sorry

Hpsa · 03/07/2026 23:56

Cute IMO, and I bet lots of people wouldn’t even know that Wally is an old fashioned nickname for Walter. Walt is also cute.