Family name origins & meanings
- English (Yorkshire) : habitational name from Loftus in Cleveland, Lofthouse in West Yorkshire, or Loftsome in East Yorkshire. All are named from Old Norse lopt ‘loft’, ‘upper storey’ + hús ‘house’, the last being derived from the dative plural form, húsum. Houses built with an upper storey (which was normally used for the storage of produce during the winter) were a considerable rarity among the ordinary people of the Middle Ages.
- Irish : English surname adopted by certain bearers of the Gaelic surname Ó Lochlainn (see Laughlin) or Ó Lachtnáin (see Lough).