McLoughlin

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The Irish Name McLoughlin is the Modern English form of the surnames for two entirely different, but distantly related septs, both of considerable importance in Irish history. The name is also spelled M'Loughlin, MacLoughlin, and McLaughlin; and, in Scotland, MacLachlan and McLauchlan. The actor Victor McLoughlin or McLaughlin changed the spelling of his name to 'McLaglen," so that people would pronounce it correctly. As a Gaelic name, not an English one, the 'gh' is never pronounced "f" but is always a hard 'gh', like the 'ch' in "Loch Lomond."

In one instance, originating in Ulster, it derives from the Gaeilge Mac/Nic Lochlainn. The prefix Mac meaning "son" and Nic, "daughter" (Gaelic patronymics have distinct masculine and feminine forms.) "Lochlainn" is the genitive case of "Lochlan" - from the root 'loch' meaning "lake". Lochlan/Lochlainn (or 'Lachlan') is an Irish personal name, as well as being an Irish name for Norway - after its plethora of fjords (the word 'loch' also being applicable to fjords and certain types of rivers, as well as lakes). While there may be some McLoughlins with Norse-Irish ancestry, there is nothing Norse or Norwegian about the surname or the personal name. The McLoughlins of Ulster were, in fact, a senior division of the northern branch of the Uí Niall Dynsty, ruling the northern territories of Ireland at the time.

To the south, in Connacht and Meath, the children and grandchildren of Máel Sechnaill or Malachy II (High King, 980-1002 and 1014-1022) took the surnem Uí / Ní Máeilsheáchlainn (Modern Irish, Uí/Ní Máoilsheáchlainn) in obedience to Brian Boru's edict of 1004. The Anglo-Norman invasion of 1171 and subsequent conquest found this surname phonetically transcribed to Norman French and Middle English as "O'Melaghlin", surviving into modern time as the personal name "Melaghlin". The "O'Melaghlins" of Meath lost their lands and their power in the centuries following the Norman Invasion - their homeland of Meath even losing its status and being absorbed into Leinster. The O'Melaghlin family only just remained visible until the seventeenth century, when they adopted the Modern English "M'Loughlin" and "McLoughlin" spellings.

A third sept, reputed to be very distantly related to the Ulster and Meath McLoughlins, is historically found in Galway. But that family's name in English is actually "Loughney," of which the variant "MacLoughney" is very rarely corrupted to "MacLoughlin" and, thus, to "McLoughlin."

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[edit] McLoughlin of Meath

Original name in Old Irish: ó Máeilsheáchlainn (masculine) and ní Máeilsheáchlainn (feminine); translated to Norman French and Middle English, O’Melaghlin; name in Modern English: Melaghlin, M'Loughlin, McLoughlin, and (rarely) O'Loughlin; name in Modern Irish, ó/ní Máoilsheáchlainn.

The McLoughlins of the old Kingdom of Mide (presently the counties of Meath, Westmeath, and parts of the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Offaly, Longford, and Louth, all now in Leinster, and part of County Cavan, now in Ulster) are descendants of the Southern Branch of the Uí Néill Dynasty, founded by Niall Noígiallach in the late fourth century, through High King Máel Sechnaill or 'Malachy' II (reigned 988–1002 and 1014–1022; reign interrupted by Brian Boru, 1002–1014).

[edit] McLoughlin of Ulster

Original name in Old Irish: Mac Lochlainn (related to people name Lochlainn/Lochlan, Loughlin and ó Lochlainn/O'Loughlin [of Ulster]).

The McLoughlins of Ulster are part of the Northern Branch of the Uí Niall Dynasty. As an ordinary family, they effectively ruled the modern counties Londonderry and Donegal, in the Ulster Province—some sources trace a connection to this family from the current British royal family, usually through the Scottish line of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. As a royal family, this wing of the Northern Uí Niall contributed High King Domhnall Mac Lochlain (1083–1101), during the Great Civil War, more commonly known as the period of "Kings With Opposition."

[edit] In Scotland

Part of the Ulster family crossed the North Channel and established the Clan Maclachlan (also spelled McLauchlin, McLauchlan, and so forth). The arms of the Chief of the Clan MacLachlan are nearly identical to those born by the original Ulster chiefs, featuring even the Red Hand of Ulster, clearly displaying the clan's Irish origins. Otherwise, the first mention of the family is of one Feregall McLoughlin in the year 1002.

[edit] McLoughlin of Galway

Original Irish name, Lochnaidh; translated to English as Loughney, rarely as MacLoughney, and very rarely as McLoughlin.

Per tradition, this McLoughlin family is more properly called "Loughney," but tradition also holds the Loughney's are distantly related to the other two McLoughlin families. Supposedly, whereas the Meath and Ulster families descend from Niall Noígiallach, the Loughney's/McLoughlins of Galway descend from his brother, Fichre, so they are Uí Fiachra, whereas the other two McLoughlin families are Uí Niall.

[edit] The Canadian "Father of Oregon"

One of the best-known McLoughlins in North American history is Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, aka John McLoughlin (1784–1857), who is considered by many to be the Father of Oregon. Born in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, of mixed Irish and French-Canadian ancestry, he became a physician and, later, a partner in the Hudson's Bay Company. The Company made Dr. McLoughlin its chief factor of the Columbia District in the Oregon Country, which at that time was a joint British-American condominium that included what are today Oregon, Washington, part of Idaho, and the southern half of mainland British Columbia. That was in 1823.

Mount McLoughlin, a dormant volcano in southern Oregon, is named after Dr. John McLoughlin.

[edit] People