Wald

The meaning of Wald is ‘forest’ or ‘woods’. It is a name typically given to boys and is of German origin. It comes from the Old German word ‘walt’ meaning forest. It also has a significance in Old Norse, and is believed to derive from the word 'valpiofr' where ‘val’ means ‘battle’, and ‘piofr’ means ‘thief’. It is also a habitational name for families who live by forests. According to an Old German element, it means ’leader’. A notable person with the last name Wald is George Wald who was a Nobel Prize winner in Physiology and Medicine in 1967. Another famous person with Wald as a last name is Abraham Wald. He was a Hungarian-Jewish mathematician who founded the field of statistical sequential analysis and the inspiration behind the 'Wald test' in statistics.