At a Glance: Name: Walden – Meaning: valley of the Welsh/foreigners (from walh 'Welshman, foreigner' + denu 'valley') – Origin: Old English (place name/surname) – Gender: Boy – Pronunciation: WAWL-dən
Walden is an Old English (place name/surname) boy's name meaning “valley of the Welsh/foreigners (from walh 'Welshman, foreigner' + denu 'valley')”. It appears in 3 of our baby name lists.
Meaning & Origin of Walden
Meaning: Valley of the Welsh/foreigners (from walh 'Welshman, foreigner' + denu 'valley').
Origin: Old English (place name/surname).
A common claim: Means 'wooded valley' Actually: 'Wooded valley' is the popular gloss, but Wiktionary traces Walden instead to Old English walh ('Welshman, foreigner') + denu ('valley') — i.e. 'valley of the Welsh' — not to weald ('forest'), a different Old English word.
Source: Wiktionary.
How to Pronounce Walden
Phonetic: WAWL-dən IPA: /ˈwɔːldən/
Popularity of Walden
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration birth-name data, 1908–2024.
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