Loftus — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Lachtnáin
Meaning: 'descendant of Lachtnán (milk-coloured, dun)'
Traditional stronghold: Mayo
Pronunciation: LOFF-tus; Irish Ó Lachtnáin: oh LOKHT-naw-in
History of the Loftus name
In Connacht, Loftus is an anglicisation of Ó Lachtnáin, from lachtna, meaning dun or milk-coloured, a name elsewhere rendered Loughnane; the switch to Loftus followed the fame of the English Loftus family, Elizabethan churchmen and landowners led by Adam Loftus, first Provost of Trinity College Dublin. The Gaelic sept had ecclesiastical associations in the medieval west, and the surname today is overwhelmingly a Mayo name, thick around Killala, Crossmolina and the Moy valley, with an offshoot in Galway. Mayo Loftuses of Gaelic stock therefore share a surname, but not an origin, with the descendants of the Tudor archbishop.
Variants: Loughnane · Loftis
Famous bearers of the name
- Seán 'Dublin Bay' Loftus — Environmental campaigner, barrister and Lord Mayor of Dublin who legally added Dublin Bay to his name.
- Mick Loftus — Crossmolina doctor and Gaelic games administrator who served as president of the GAA.
- Adam Loftus — Elizabethan Archbishop of Dublin and first Provost of Trinity College, of the unrelated English family.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Walsh · Burke · Moran · Higgins · Conway · Costello · Jennings · Browne