Atherton

A1T1H4E1R1T1O1N1
UK/ˈæθətən/US/ˈæθɚtən/

proper noun

A town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England (OS grid ref SD6703).

Less commonScrabble 11
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Meanings

proper nounAtherton (countable and uncountable, plural Athertons)

plural Athertons · alternative Atterton · alternative Eatherton · alternative Etherton

  1. A placename:
    1. countableuncountableA town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England (OS grid ref SD6703).
    2. countableuncountableA town in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia.
    3. countableuncountableA town in San Mateo County, California, United States.
      1 more example

      For years, celebrities and tech titans have flocked to Atherton, Calif., a suburb in the heart of Silicon Valley. Given the town’s ultrawealthy residents, it may come as no surprise that Atherton is where one finds the most expensive ZIP code in the United States based on home prices, according to a study by RealtyHop.

      2024 November 28, Josh Ocampo, “Expensive ZIP Codes Have Something in Common”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 01 Dec 2024
  2. countableA habitational surname from Old English.

Origin

From the Old English personal name Æþelhere + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”), equivalent to Old English Æþelhere + -ton.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

theatron
Cite this entry
APA

Atherton. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Atherton

MLA

“Atherton.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Atherton. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Atherton,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Atherton.

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