An English surname, Axtell comes from the Old Norse term ’ascetic’ which refers to a powerful helmet or kettle. Variations in spelling Axtell include Axell, Axel, Aksell, Asketill, Axstel, Axtil, Ashkettle and Asketil, Axcell and Axcel. In England most Axtell families live in the central southern region, concentrated in the city of London and Buckinghamshire county. The Midlothian county in Scotland has the majority of Axtell families. Within the United States the Axtell surname is scattered most regions. The states with the greater populations of Axtell citizens is California, New York, Texas, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Famous: John David Axtell (renown genetics researcher), Samuel B. Axtell (19th century governor to the territories of New Mexico and Utah in the 1870s with a mountain in Colorado named for him), Rev. Henry Axtell (a founder of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva New York) and George Clifton Axtell (a renown military pilot during World War II, known as ’The Big Ax’).