Walter is a German masculine given name derived from Old High German Walthari, composed of the elements walt- (Proto-Germanic *wald-) "power", "ruler", and hari (Proto-Germanic *χarja) "army". The name was first popularized by the famous epic German hero Walther von Aquitaine and later with the writer Walther von der Vogelweide. The name is first recorded in the 6th century, with Walthari son of Wacho, who was king of the Lombards during 539–546. Old High German forms are recorded as Walthari, Waltari, Walthar, Waltar, Waltere, Waldheri, Waldhere, Waltheri, Walthere, Walther, Walter, Waldher, and Valter. The Old English equivalent is Wealdhere, Old Norse has Valðar and Valdarr. The name entered the French language as Gauthier, Spanish as Gutierre, Portuguese as Gualter and Italian as Gualtiero. The modern Dutch form of the name is Wouter. The German name has also been adopted in a number of languages in the spelling Valter. The Latinized form is Waltharius, the title of a poem of the late 9th or early 10th century on the legendary Gothic king Walter of Aquitaine. A fragmentary Old English poem on the same character is known as Waldere. Jacob Grimm in Teutonic Mythology speculates that Walthari, literally "wielder of hosts", may have been an epithet of the god of war, Ziu or Eor, and that the circumstance that the hero of the Waltharius poems loses his right hand in battle may be significant, linking him to the Norse tradition of Tyr. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 43.5% of all known bearers of the surname Walter were residents of Germany (frequency 1:643), 23.4% of the United States (1:5,374), 5.0% of Nigeria (1:12,307), 4.0% of France (1:5,814), 2.0% of Austria (1:1,467), 1.9% of England (1:10,157), 1.8% of Brazil (1:38,529), 1.6% of Australia (1:5,113), 1.4% of Angola (1:6,511), 1.3% of Canada (1:9,641), 1.3% of Switzerland (1:2,176), 1.2% of Ghana (1:7,682), 1.1% of Argentina (1:13,353), 1.0% of Poland (1:12,776) and 1.0% of South Africa (1:19,181). In Germany, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:643) in the following states: Baden-Württemberg (1:386) Bremen (1:422) Brandenburg (1:450) Hesse (1:526) Saxony-Anhalt (1:539) Rhineland-Palatinate (1:599) Thuringia (1:603) Bavaria (1:606) Saxony (1:621) Saarland (1:627) Given name Middle ages Walter the Englishman or Gualterus Anglicus (), Anglo-Norman poet and scribe Walter, Count of Rethel (died 1262), French nobleman Walter (abbot of Evesham) or Walter de Cerisy (died 1104), English church leader Walter (archbishop of Sens) (), French church