Walker

surname · Latin script

Meaning: (i) Fuller; (ii) person from Walker, Northumberland, meaning ‘marsh by a (Roman) wall’

Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise

/wɔkɚ/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated

Walker is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country, where it is the 26th most common surname.

rarermore common
  • JMJamaica≈1 in 440(inferred from the name graph)
  • GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 474
  • NZNew Zealand≈1 in 508

carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

United States (measured from records)

523,129 people, 2010

#156 (measured from records)

of 19M surnames

2 (measured from records)

recorded for this name

Sources
626 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

≈1 in 440 (inferred from the name graph)

Jamaica, est.

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Spellings & scripts(measured from records)

WalkerLatin(measured from records)
ওয়াকারBengali(measured from records)

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

(i) Fuller; (ii) person from Walker, Northumberland, meaning ‘marsh by a (Roman) wall’.

Sources 1

  • Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

Where in the world(measured from records)

Walker counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.

Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.

Where Walker is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
US United States#26523,1291 in 636523KWalker626
GB United Kingdom#17≈140,000 est.≈1 in 4746Walker353
CA Canada#22≈54,000 est.≈1 in 70351Walker314
EG Egypt#691≈52,000 est.≈1 in 2K—Walker42
AU Australia#17≈45,000 est.≈1 in 5724Walker297
NZ New Zealand#16≈9,700 est.≈1 in 50810Walker164
JM Jamaica#10≈6,400 est.≈1 in 440—Walker52

523,129 people counted by Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010, 2010. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.

Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; NRS — Baby names Scotland full list (1974–present); Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM); Alberta Open Government — Frequency and Ranking of Baby Names by Year and Gender; DIA — Baby name popularity (1900–present). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).

Other names spelled this way(inferred from the name graph)

Walker is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

  • Spanish surname19 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, France, Argentina, Colombia

    Languages: Spanish, French, Italian

    Also written Wälkër, Wälker, Wälkêr, Wãlkër, W'Alker

  • a separate name5 spellings in the group

    Also written Wálker, Wälker, Walk-Er

  • Portuguese surname16 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Brazil, United States, United Kingdom, Portugal

    Also written Wälkër, Walkêr, Wälker, Walkër, Wálker

  • Polish surname17 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Poland, United States, Czechia, United Kingdom

    Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

    Also written Wáļkèr, Voker, Walkér, Вокер, Wålker

  • Indonesian surname7 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Malaysia

    Languages: Indonesian, Malay

    Also written Ẅalker, Wälkęr, Wâlkêr, Wálkér, Wålkër

79 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses(measured from records)

Walker is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

  • In English, Occupational surname from Scots waulker ‘a fuller of cloth’; recorded as Thomas dictus Walkar in Berwick, 1324.

    as a nameScottish Surnames

  • In English, OE wealcere ‘fuller’; first attested Richard le Walkere c1248 Bec (Wa)

    as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames

  • In German, from 'cloth fuller'; also related to Walcher/Walk forms

    as a nameDeutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

  • In Korean, General Walton Walker, U.S. commander who died in December 1950

    as a nameKorea - A Historical and Cultural Dictionary

  • In English, Old English; a fuller, one who thickens cloth

    as a nameBaby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name(measured from records)

18001850190019502000William Walker, b. 1824Clint Walker, b. 1927Alice Malsenior Walker, b. 1944Gina Haspel, b. 1956Graham Norton, b. 1963Paul Walker, b. 1973Dreama Walker, b. 1986Kyle Walker, b. 1990Kemba Walker, b. 1990British DJ, b. 1997
  • William Walkerb. 1824USAmerican filibuster, physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (1824-1860)
  • Clint Walkerb. 1927USAmerican actor (1927–2018)
  • Alice Malsenior Walkerb. 1944USAmerican author and activist (born 1944)
  • Gina Haspelb. 1956USnot in their usual nameAmerican intelligence officer (born 1956)
  • Graham Nortonb. 1963IEnot in their usual nameIrish comedian, actor and television host
  • Paul Walkerb. 1973USAmerican actor (1973–2013)
  • Dreama Walkerb. 1986USAmerican actress
  • Kyle Walkerb. 1990GBEnglish association football player (born 1990)
  • Kemba Walkerb. 1990USAmerican basketball player (born 1990)
  • British DJb. 1997GBnot in their usual nameNorwegian electronic dance music producer (born 1997)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them(machine-generated)

FormalDear Walker,
InformalHello,

Evidence(measured from records)

Attested in 87 sources across 47 countries.

Official registers attesting Walker
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20102010523K#31
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20202020505K#32
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20002000501K#28

Reference works 7

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Walker mean, and where does it come from?
(i) Fuller; (ii) person from Walker, Northumberland, meaning ‘marsh by a (Roman) wall’. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
In which country does Walker have the most bearers?
In the United States, the national register counted about 523 thousand people named Walker, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled walker.
How common is the name Walker?
In the United States, the national register counted 523,129 people named Walker in 2010, about 1 in 636 residents.
How common is Walker compared with other names?
In the United States, Walker is the 26th most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.
How do you pronounce Walker?
A machine transcription gives /wɔkɚ/ (IPA) for English.

What do you want to know about Walker?

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Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/walker

The payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.

About this data

measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated

These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Walker” — the 26th most common surname in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Walker parses inside a full name →