The name Halle comes from the town of that name and occasionally as a family name in Frankfurt as early as the 17th century. Families with the name Halle may have been related, and tended to belong to the middle classes of Frankfurt Jewish society. Joel Halle, who lived in the the Buchsbaum in the second half of the 18th century, was apparently the only one to have been significantly successful: he is said to have owned the largest drapery store in the Judengasse.