Walker Surname

Meaning and origin of the surname Walker

Occupational surname for a fuller of cloth, derived from Middle English walkere (from Old English wealcere, 'to roll, tread, or full cloth in water to thicken it').

Historically and linguistically, Walker belongs to the English, Scottish and German family of surnames. It is conventionally pronounced "WAW-ker".

United States Census frequency and ranking

In the official 2010 United States Census, Walker was recorded 523,129 times, ranking as the 31st most common surname in the nation.

This represents an incidence rate of approximately 177.34 bearers per 100,000 Americans, or roughly 1 out of every 564 residents.

Race and ethnicity distribution

According to official decennial Census genealogy microdata, individuals bearing the surname Walkerreported the following racial and ethnic affiliations in the 2010 US Census:

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 Census Surnames Data. Percentages may not sum to exactly 100% due to independent rounding or suppression of small cell counts for privacy protection.

History of the surname Walker

Walker is an occupational surname derived from the Old English verb wealcan ('to roll, move about, or tread'). In medieval textile manufacturing, raw woolen cloth had to be scoured and thickened by trampling it in large vats of water mixed with fuller's earth. Workers performing this laborious task were known as walkers in northern and western England and Scotland, corresponding to fullers in the south and tuckers in the southwest.

The surname appears early in English medieval archives, including Richard le Walkere in the 1248 Assize Rolls of Warwickshire and Robert le Walkere in 1260 in Yorkshire. The trade was an indispensable cornerstone of the medieval wool trade that dominated the English export economy.

Walker was carried to North America by seventeenth-century English settlers and spread widely throughout the American South and Midwest. Borne by Madam C.J. Walker (1867–1919), America's first self-made female millionaire, and novelist Alice Walker, the surname ranked 31st in the 2010 United States Census with 523,129 recorded bearers (177.34 per 100,000 Americans).

Notable people with the surname Walker

• Alice Walker (1944–), American novelist, poet, and activist, author of The Color Purple
• Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919), American entrepreneur and America's first self-made female millionaire
• Herschel Walker (1962–), American former football player and Heisman Trophy winner
• Kemba Walker (1990–), American former professional basketball player and four-time NBA All-Star