This is a locational name from Greenhalgh in Lancashire, so called from the Old English pre 7th Century "grene" meaning green and "holh" a hollow. The name is first recorded in the thirteenth century as "de Grenol". Alternative spellings have included de Grenehalgh, de Grenol and de Grenholl circa 1332. In the modern idiom, the name has four spelling variations: Greenhalgh, Greenhalf, Greenhall and Greenall, indicating that the second element has undergone much dialectal change. Thomas, son of John and Margaret Greenall, was christened at Kirkham in Lancashire on January 19th 1621, and the marriage of William Greenall and Elizabeth Powell was recorded at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, on October 10th 1621. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Grenol, which was dated 1246, in the "Assize Court Rolls of Lancashire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as 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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