Family name origins & meanings
- Origin uncertain : perhaps an altered form of an unidentified Scandinavian habitational name ending in -stedt ‘homestead’, or of the English surname Hamstead, a habitational name from any of several places in England named with Old English hāmstede ‘homestead’, for example Hamstead in the West Midlands and Isle of Wight, Hampstead in London, or Hamstead Marshall and Hampstead Norris in Berkshire.