Loughlin
An Irish surname from an old Gaelic personal name tied to the idea of a Norseman, Viking, or Scandinavian raider.
The #9,786 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 93,305 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Loughlin is the anglicized form of Gaelic names such as Ó Lachlainn and Mac Lochlainn. These come from a personal name traditionally connected with the Old Norse people, often explained as meaning something like “land of the fjord-lake” or, more simply in Irish usage, “Norseman” or “Viking.” Older writers also associated the name with the ancient Welsh/British term Llychlyn, used for Scandinavia or the Norse world.
History
The name is especially associated with Irish families, notably in Ulster, and appears in forms such as O'Loughlin, MacLoughlin, and MacLaughlin. In older English-language surname books, the spelling was often treated as one among several anglicized forms of the same Gaelic family name. Variants spread through Ireland and later to Britain, North America, and other English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old Irish sources used a word akin to Llychlyn for Scandinavia, so the surname preserves a memory of early Gaelic contact with the Norse world.
From the historical record
“pleonasm, as both words signify a hill. The hill-hill. LOUGHLIN. The ancient Britons or Welsh called the Baltic Sea Lychlyn, and the Scandinavian sea-pirates who infested the coasts of Britain received the same appellation. Norway is called Llychlyn. LOUTH. (Br. and Welsh.) From lowcth, a garden. OF FAMILY NAMES.…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names