Recorded as Hale, Hales, Hail, Haile, Hallas, Hayle, Hayles, and possibly others, this is both an English and Scottish surname. It is habitional and derives from residence at a remote valley (halh) or by a salt water estuary (heil). The origin is strictly speaking Ancient British (pre-Roman), and a survivor of the very earliest civilizations. Sometimes the name is locational from villages called Hale, Hales, Haile, and Hayle, which occur throughout the British Isles. The plural surname spelling forms may denote either a patronymic (son of Hayle) or a dweller at a 'halh, or 'simply that the extra 's' aids pronunciation. Early examples of recordings of the name include: Morus de la Hales, of Kent in the year 1214, John del Hale, of Hertfordshire, in the Curia Regis rolls of the same year, and William Hayles in the Friary Rolls of Yorkshire in 1456. The original coat of arms has the blazon of a red field, charged with a gold fesse between two silver chevronels. Amongst the early church recordings are those of James Hayles who was a witness at the christening of his daughter, Anne, at St. Peter's Cornhill, city of London, on November 15th 1573 , whilst on October 22nd 1580, Joan Hailes married Nicholas Dannyell at Bamfield, in Hertfordshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Hales. This was dated 1180, in the "Pipe Rolls of Shropshire", during the reign of King Henry 11nd of England, 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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