Basil Cottle in "The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames" says that Hall usually means someone who lived in or worked in a hall or manor house. It could also possibly be an old word for a slope, thus meaning someone who lived on a slope. It is a particularly common name in Northumberland and Durham.

In 1853 it was the 16th commonest surname in England and Wales. In 1939 it was the 20th most common in the USA.

P Reaney & R M Wilson, in "A Dictionary of English Surnames", one of the most respected works on UK surnames says that Hall means "worker at the hall" and is found all over the UK.