From genealogy.about.com:

A place name derived from various words for "large house," usually used to signify someone who lived in or worked in a hall or manor house. It could also possibly be an old Norse word for "boulder, slope" thus meaning someone who lived on a slope.

My Halls are fairly recent arrivals to the United States arriving in the 19th Century from Kent, England. I have a large collection of Pedigree Charts and Family Group records for this family.

John Charles Hall Born 20 Oct 1821 in Faversham, Kent, England. died 3 Mar 1890 in Rockville, Washington, Utah. [Ancestor #196]