7,492 Global Halls Family Members

Halls Family History

Family spelling variants include Hall, Halle, Halls, All, Alls Alle.

There are approximately 7,492 Halls family members around the world. In general you can double this figure to include those related to the Halls names to allow for those connected to the name through maiden name connections.

It is estimated that the largest group of Halls family members live England with 3,194 (42.6%) members, USA with 1,734 (23.1%), Australia with 1,467 (19.6%), Canada with 556 (7.4%), South Africa with 256 (3.4%), New Zealand with 104 (1.4%), Wales with 102 (1.4%) and Scotland with 79 (1.1%) members.

This ancient surname generally considered to be Anglo-Scottish, has several possible sources. These are that it may be a topographical name for someone who lived at or near a large house called a Hall, or that it could be an occupational name for a person who was employed at such a place. In this case the derivation can be either from the Olde English pre 7th Century word "heall", or the Old German and later Anglo-Saxon "halla", or even the Old Norse-Viking "holl". All have the same meaning of a large house or building. However it can also be a locational surname from any of the places called Hall..

An English locative name or occupational name for someone who lived or worked at a hall, occupational name for a servant employed at a hall, from Middle English hall(e) and Old English heall. Middle High German halle, Old Norse holl, all meaning ‘hall’ referring to ‘a spacious residence’, an occupational name. The English name has also been established in Ireland since the Middle Ages.

In some cases it may be a habitational name from places named with this word, which in some parts of Germany and Austria from the Middle Ages also denoted as salt mine in Austrian county of Tyrol.

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Warin de Hall, dated 1178 in the "Pipe Rolls" of the county of Essex, during the reign of King Henry II of England (1154 – 1189). Early example of the surname further north includes William de Hall, who held lands in Irvine, Scotland in 1426.

Another early bearer was John Hall, who was born in Kent in 1584 and emigrated to New England in 1632. He founded a notable American family, as his descendants included Stanley Hall, a pioneer in psychophysics and an early astronomer, Asaph Hall. Lyman Hall, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 was also a descendant.

Other early bearers of the surname include: Willelmus atte Halls, 1379 in Poll Tax (Hamsey, Sussex); Lewes Halls, 1563 in IGI (Coventry, Warwicks); Umfrye Halls, 1564 in IGI (Canterbury, Kent); William Halls, 1585 in IGI (Stamford, Lincs); Dennis Halls, 1587 in IGI (Limpsfield, Surrey); John Halls, 1594 in IGI (Little Sampford, Essex).

In 1891 census, the surname was recorded in England and Wales with 2,624 occurrences in England and Wales and a fewer 9 in Scotland.

In 1881 census, the surname was frequent in Essex and East Anglia, also Cornwall and Devon. Essex was recorded as a top county for the surname with 640 occurrences. 

The top reported jobs worked by Hall in the UK in 1881 were Agricultural Labourer, Labourer and Farmer. 

1881, 1891 Census

1881 Census in Essex

Dictionary of American Family Homes, P Hanks OUP 2003

Homes of Family Names in Great Britain, H.B. Guppy, London 1890

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, P.Hanks, Coats, McClure OUP 2016

1860 Lower, Mark A Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom, London: J.R Smith. Public Domain

1857 Arthur, William An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain

J.M.P