Frequency: (6629)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Lochlainn ‘descendant of Lochlann’, a personal name meaning ‘stranger’, originally a term denoting Scandinavia (a compound of loch ‘lake’, ‘fjord’ + lann ‘land’). Many Irish bearers of the name claim descent from Lochlann, a 10th century lord of Corcomroe, County Clare.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
