Origin of the Name Walker
The ancient history of the name
Walker was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Meaning 'the walker', this is an occupational name from someone who was a fuller, or thickener of woollen cloth. Variants include Walcker, Welcker and Walkmill. In the Middle Ages these names were found in the North and West of England, the highest concentrations being in an area centred on Leeds and the Grampian region of Scotland. This name is of Celtic origin and is found throughout England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It is found in many mediaeval manuscripts in these countries. Examples of such are a Geoff le Walkare, London, who was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England, in the year 1273 and a Peter Walkar, County Gloucestershire, who was recorded in the 'Placita de Quo Warranto', in the reign of Edward I.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland. While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Walker coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Walker descendants.