Walther is named after the German astronomer Bernhard Walther. Like many of the craters on the Moon's near side, it was named (in the Latin form, 'Valtherus') by Giovanni Riccioli, whose 1651 nomenclature system has become standardized.: Earlier lunar cartographers had given the feature different names: Michael van Langren's 1645 map calls it Caroli I Reg. Britt., after King Charles I of England,: and Johannes Hevelius grouped it with Purbach and Regiomontanus as Mons Libanus after Mount Lebanon.: