McLaughlin (surname) McLaughlin (surname) M(a)cLaughlin is the most common English form of "Mac Lochlainn", a masculine surname of Irish origin. The feminine form of the surname is "Nic Lochlainn". The literal meaning of the name is "son of "Lochlann"". Note that "Mc" is simply a contraction of "Mac", which is also (albeit rarely) truncated to "M' ". Thus, "MacLaughlin", "McLaughlin" and "M'Laughlin" are the same Anglicism, the latter two merely contractions of the first. The original surname Mac/Nic Lochlainn was borne by a family of Cenél nEógain, a branch of the historic northern O'Neill dynasty, reputedly founded by Niall Noígíallach. This family
Scottish Gaelic name MacKonochie, MacOnachie, MacOnechy, MacOnochie, Donohue" or "Donohoe" (ignoring the Mac/Mc variation). Note that Scottish Gaelic does not put a space between the and the second element, whereas in Irish, there is a space: Nicknames (, ) in Gaelic operate similarly to those in other languages and usually indicate a physical characteristic, an occupation, a location or an incident the person is associated and so forth. Some examples Due to the relative paucity of names and surnames in Gaelic, the official name of a person (i.e. first name plus a surname, in Gaelic or English) is rarely used in Gaelic speaking