Lauter Family History

German: topographic name and habitational name from a common stream name meaning ‘clear’ from Middle High German hlutra or from any of the places called Lauter or Lauta (Saxony). This surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine) and some other European countries.

Germanized or Americanized form of Slovenian Lavtar or its Croatized and rare Slovenian variant Lautar: from a dialect variant of the personal name Valter (see Walter).