Athelstan

Athel·stan
A1T1H4E1L1S1T1A1N1
/ˈæθ.əlˌstæn//ˈæθ.ɛlˌstæn/

proper noun

A male given name.

OriginOld English æþele →
UncommonScrabble 12
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper noun

alternative Athelstane

  1. rareA male given name.
  2. A surname.
  3. A small town south of Huntingdon in Quebec, Canada.
  4. A community in Iowa.
  5. A king of the Anglo-Saxons.

Origin

  1. Old Englishæþele“noble”
  2. EnglishAthelstan

An Anglo-Saxon male given name derived from Old English æþele (“noble”) and stān (“stone”), meaning "Gem". Old English variants are Æþelstān and Æðelstān. In modern English it is also found as Æthelstan, Athelstane, Addleston, Athelston, Athelstone and Ethelstone, usually surnames or place names. It is akin to the Dutch noun edelsteen and German noun and surname Edelstein and the Icelandic male given name Aðalsteinn.

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Athelstan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Athelstan

MLA

“Athelstan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Athelstan. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Athelstan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Athelstan.

Source: Athelstan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.