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
Irish people used. While both "Mac" and "Ó'" prefixes are Gaelic in origin, "Mac" is more common in Scotland and in Ulster than in the rest of Ireland; furthermore, "Ó" is far less common in Scotland than it is in Ireland. The proper surname for a woman in Irish uses the feminine prefix nic (meaning daughter) in place of mac. Thus a boy may be called Mac Domhnaill whereas his sister would be called Nic Dhomhnaill or Ní Dhomhnaill – the insertion of 'h' follows the female prefix in the case of most consonants (bar H, L, N, R, & T). A