BRADLEY HALL

Transferred use of the surname, in origin a local name from any of the numerous places in England so called from Old English brād ‘broad’ + lēah ‘wood, clearing’. The most famous American bearer of this surname was General Omar N. Bradley (1893–1981). As a given name it used to be found mainly in North America but of late has come into fashion in Britain.

English, Scottish, Irish, German, and Scandinavian: from Middle English hall (Old English heall), Middle High German halle, Old Norse hōll all meaning ‘hall’ (a spacious residence), hence a topographic name for someone who lived in or near a hall or an occupational name for a servant employed at a hall. In some cases it may be a habitational name from places named with this word, which in some parts of Germany and Austria in the Middle Ages also denoted a salt mine. The English name has been established in Ireland since the Middle Ages, and, according to MacLysaght, has become numerous in Ulster since the 17th century.