This interesting name is a dialectual variant of the Irish name Lachlan. Which comes from the personal name Lochlann a stranger, originally a byname applied to Viking settlers, from the name used for Scandinavia (a compound at 'loch' lake and 'lann', land). Many Irish bearers of the name claim to be descendants of Lochlann, a 10th Century Lord of Corcomroe (now Kilfenora) County Clare. The variants include Loughlan, Laughlin, Lafflin(a), Loftus. Recorded in Ringshall, Suffolk the christening of one Bathsheba Lafflin in 1798. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Conghalach O' Loughllin (Bishop of KIlfenora), which was dated 1281 - 1300, in the Ecclesiastical Records in Clare, during the reign of King Edward I, known as the Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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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