Loughran — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Luchráin
Meaning: 'descendant of Luchrán'
Traditional stronghold: Armagh, Tyrone
Pronunciation: LOKH-run; Irish Ó Luchráin: oh LUKH-raw-in
History of the Loughran name
Ó Luchráin is an Ulster name whose homeland straddles Tyrone, Armagh and south Derry. The family had strong ecclesiastical traditions, appearing for centuries among the erenagh and clerical families of the Armagh church lands, and the name is recorded in the medieval registers of the archdiocese. It has remained a distinctly northern surname, most numerous in Tyrone and Armagh with spillover into Antrim and Louth, and it travelled to Scotland and America with Ulster emigration. A separate small family of the same name arose in the Donegal area. Anglicised spellings include Loughrane, O'Loughran and occasionally Loran.
Variants: Loughrane · O'Loughran
Famous bearers of the name
- Eamonn Loughran — Ballymena boxer who held the WBO world welterweight title in the 1990s.
- James Loughran — Glasgow-born conductor of Irish descent, longtime principal conductor of the Hallé Orchestra.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · O'Neill · Quinn · Donnelly · McGrath · Garvey · O'Hanlon · Devlin