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Boy · Old English
Æthelstan
Say it: ATH-el-stahn
Meaning
From Old English æthel 'noble' and stan 'stone'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A favourite name of the West Saxon royal house; given occasionally again by Victorian antiquarian enthusiasm.
Its wave through time
No birth counts are recorded for this name in the records loaded here: it has been given to fewer than five babies a year, or not at all, since records began.
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Athelstan
Famous bearers
- Æthelstan, first king of all England
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Anglo-Saxon charters, chronicles and church records
- Royal and noble genealogies
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.