Avesta is a locality and the seat of Avesta Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 11,949 inhabitants in 2015. The name of Avesta is first found in 1303 as "Aghastadhum". The Swedish Aghe is of similar origin as the word å, meaning stream, in this case the Avestafors, a tributary of the river Dalälven. The Swedish Stadhum was the dative plural of a word of similar origin as the English word stead, or farm.