Morhall

Recorded as Morehall and Morhall, this is an English locational surname. It originates from the hamlet of Morehall near the town of Folkstone in the county of Kent. The name probably means 'The level area within a moor' from the pre 7th century Olde English 'mor' and 'halh', a flat area cleared for agriculture. However 'halh' can also mean a substantial stone house, a hall, so there may have been a country house on the site. The name is also confused with similar sounding surnames such as Marall, Marle, and Morrell, so that it is possible that in some cases over the centuries there has been intermixing. In fact in Kent itself this surname is not recorded until 1857, whilst it appears in the surviving registers of the city of London in Elizabethan times. This is not unusual in that locational surnames are often 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes, and at the place where they subsequently settled, which was usually London. These early recordings include William Morhall, whose daughter Elizabeth was christened at St Augustines Watling Street, in the city of London, on January 4th 1589, and then possibly the same William, but this time registered as Morehall, at the same church on August 24th 1606, when his son John was christened. In neither recording is the name of the wife given.