Genit., or pl., of Hall, q.v.

Either Hawes, which see, or a pluralization of Hall.

The surname Hall is a local name from the Old English Hall or Heall, meaning ‘a hall or large house’. The name Hall was originally given to someone who lived in or by (or was employed at) the hall or manor. Field, Castle and Stone are other common examples of local names of this type.

However, not all Halls derive from this source. This name frequently occurs in the north-east of England, and it seems that here the name Hall is a local name deriving from the Old Norse for a ‘boulder or slope’ and was given to someone who lived on, near, or under some prominent boulder or hillside. (As such, it would mean much the same as the name Stone.) A variation of this latter derivation is the name Hallam, which is found mainly in nearby West Yorkshire. Here, Hallam is a local name deriving from the Old Norse for ‘at the stone or slope’. However, in some cases the name Hallam was given to a native of Hallam in the old parish of Sheffield. The surname Hall goes back to early feudal times. One Warin de Halla is mentioned in the 1178 Pipe Rolls for Essex, and two examples of the name appear in the Hundred Rolls of 1273. Here one Roger de la Halle is recorded in the Cambridgeshire records, while a Walter de la Halle appears in the records for Salop. (The Norman French ‘de la’ would suggest that in these cases they were probably employed at the hall or manor.) Halley’s Comet, named for Edward Halley (1656—1742) and first observed by him in 1682, is probably the brightest and most spectacular known to us. Its brilliant passage across the heavens has long been thought to presage great historical events. It was seen in 1066 at the time of the Norman Conquest and is next due in 1986.

Big Ben, actually the name of the bell, not the clock, is named after the rotund parliamentarian Sir Benjamin Hall (1802—67), who was Minister of Works when the bell was cast for St Stephen’s Tower.

Aluminium was made practicable by the invention of the electrolysis process by the American chemist, Charles Martin Hall (1863-1914).

The United Kingdom has 21 Hall-related towns and cities. These range from Halland to Hall Thwaites. Canada has 4 towns with Hall-related names while the United States has 14. Related town names are prevalent throughout Europe, there being 32 in all. These range from Austria’s Hall to Denmark’s Hallundback. Hall is unusually common as a geographic name ranging from the United Kingdom’s Halley Bay to Hall Table Mountain in Mozambique.

With about 181,000 namesakes Hall is the 17th most popular surname in England and Wales. (The name is not common enough throughout Scotland to be counted separately.) Hall is notably popular in and around Teesside where an estimated one in about 200 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Leicester, Sheffield and Leeds are other Hall strongholds. Around the world Halls are most common in Melbourne (one in 582 families), Canberra (one in 590) and Sydney (one in 601). The United States has more Halls than the entire population of Bristol-an estimated total of just over 494,000 makes this their 24th most popular surname.