Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Scottish, Irish, and English : nickname for an unbridled and licentious man, from Middle English laghless, lawelas (a compound of late Old English lagu ‘law’ (from Old Norse) + the native suffix -l(ē)as ‘without’, ‘lacking’). Reaney suggests additionally that this name may have referred to an outlaw (i.e. one from whom the protection of the law had been withdrawn), but this seems unlikely.

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe