Provençal dialect
Castellane's name appeared in texts for the first time circa 965–977 as "Petra Castellana". The name breaks down into three Occitan terms, "pèira", "castel" and the suffix "-ana," which means fortified rock and village, and could be translated as "Castellane rock", in other words, the rock that has a fortified village, or simply the stronghouse or stronghold. Castellane is called "Castelana" in the Provençal dialect in the classical norm, or "Castelano" in the Mistralian.