Halstead Family History

English (Yorkshire and Lancashire): habitational name from any of 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 Middle English hal(le) + sted(des) stud(es) ‘hall buildings’.

(Old English h(e)all ‘hall’ + stede ‘place’).