The surname Walker comes from the Old English ‘wealcere’, which is another name for a fuller. A fuller or walker was a person who trod cloth in a trough in the fulling process, which is mentioned in the fourteenth-century poem Piers Plowman where it is said: Cloth that cometh fro the wevying (i.e. weaving) Is nought comely to were Tyl it be fulled under fote.

Thus the stamping and pressing practised by the walker or fuller required much the same attributes as a modern-day grape presser in Spain or France.

The name Walker is popular all over England, but is found in greatest concentration along a band stretching up from Nottingham and Derby through West Yorkshire to Durham. However, in the Durham region and in Northumbria the name Walker may occasionally be a place name, originally being given to a person who came from Walker in Northumbria. This name is a derivation of ‘marsh by the (Roman) wall’. This derivation comes out more clearly in the close name Waller, which in one variation comes from being a location name for ‘a dweller at the wall’.

The surnames Fuller and Tucker derive from the same profession.

The first mention of the surname Walker is in the Documents for the Abbey of Bec, where in the 1248 records for Warwickshire one Richard le Walkere is mentioned.

The Walker Cup is a golf trophy awarded to the winner of a competition between amateur men’s teams from the United States and the British Isles. Held every other year since 1922, the venue alternates between the two countries.

One of the earliest American feminists was Mary Edwards Walker (1832—1919). She attracted attention to the cause by wearing men’s clothes, and later served as a nurse during the American Civil War. In 1897 she established a women’s colony known as ‘Adamless Eden’.

There are 8 towns in the United Kingdom which are name related-Walker, Walker Fold, Walkerburn, Walkeringham, Walkerith, Walkering, Walker’s Green and Walkerton. Canada also has a Walkerton, while the United States has 13 Walker- related towns including 7 Walkers. Both South Africa and Australia have Walkervilles. Walker-named geographic features are common and include Walker Coy Island in the Bahamas.

With about 180,000 namesakes Walker is the 18th most popular surname in England and Wales. There are over 19,000 Walkers in Scotland where the name is 26th in popularity. Walker is notably popular in and around Leeds where an estimated one in about 145 families bears the name. In order Teesside, Bradford and Nottingham are other Walker strongholds.

Around the world Walkers are most common in Auckland (one in 449 families), Wellington (one in 460) and Canberra (one in 479). The United States has more Walkers than the entire population of Manchester-an estimated total of just over 510,000 makes this their 21st most popular surname.