Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name from any of the various places bearing this name, for example in Essex (Haltesteda in Domesday Book), Kent, and Leicestershire, all of which are probably named from Old English h(e)ald ‘refuge’, ‘shelter’ + stede ‘site’, or possibly Hawstead in Suffolk, which has the same origin. However, the name is now most frequent in Lancashire and Yorkshire, where it is from High Halstead in Burnley, named as the ‘site of a hall’, from Old English h(e)all ‘hall’ + stede ‘place’.
- English : occupational name for someone employed at ‘the hall buildings’, Middle English hallested, an ostler or cowhand, for instance.