Find out how popular the last name Walder is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Walder.

Walder, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Walder surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Walder in America

Walder is the 19559th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Walder surname appeared 1,380 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Walder.

We can also compare 2010 data for Walder to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Walder

The surname Walder is of Anglo-Saxon origin, deriving from the Old English words 'wald' meaning power and 'here' meaning army. It is believed to have originated in the 7th century in the region of Wessex, England.

The name Walder is thought to have first appeared in historical records in the late 11th century, shortly after the Norman conquest of England in 1066. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is in the Domesday Book of 1086, where a landowner named Walderus is mentioned.

In the 12th century, the Walder surname began to spread throughout various parts of England, with variations in spelling such as Waldor, Waldere, and Waldere emerging. During this time, the name was associated with nobility and military service.

A notable figure bearing the Walder surname was Sir John Walder, a 14th-century knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. He was born in 1320 and died in 1395.

The Walder name also has connections to several place names in England, including Waldershire, a former village in Oxfordshire, and Walderston, a hamlet in Northamptonshire. These place names likely derived from individuals with the Walder surname who had settled in those areas.

In the 16th century, a prominent Walder was William Walder, a merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in London. He was born in 1530 and died in 1598.

Another notable individual with the Walder surname was Thomas Walder, a 17th-century English theologian and author who wrote extensively on religious subjects. He was born in 1615 and died in 1683.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Walder surname continued to be found throughout England, with some families emigrating to other parts of the British Empire, including North America and Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Walder

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Walder.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Walder was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Walder has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Walder was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Walder, please contact us.

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