I am hoping to find out, if someone can tell me if the last name Loftin is of Irish origin/descent?

Question

Any information greatly appreciated, about if Loftin is an irish name. Ive done some searching but cannot find anything.

Answer 1

Please see the links below, one from the British College of Arms and the other from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U. S., The National Genealogical Society.

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.htm

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerpsst.cfm

Don't be fooled by peddlers of surname products like House of Names and swyrich.com.

The same name frequently comes from more than one national origin. Also, not everyone with the same name are necessarily related or shares ancestor, even those of the same national origin.

The best thing to do is to trace your ancestry starting with yourself and working back. Anytime you wish to do this, there are lots of good people on this board that can give you some great tips and advice. Just ask.

Answer 2

Loftin
Swedish: ornamental name composed of an unexplained first element + the suffix -in, from Latin -in(i)us ‘descendant of’. Compare Loften. This is a common name in TX and NC

Using "Loft" as the first element, ancestry.com had this to say about the surname LOFT:
English: from Middle English "lofte" ‘upper chamber’, ‘attic’, possibly bestowed on a household servant who worked in an upper chamber, or used in the same sense as Loftus.
Danish: habitational name from a place called Loft.

Loftus
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’ +" hus" ‘house’, the last being derived from the dative plural form, "husum". 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 O'Lochlainn (see Laughlin) or ÓO' Lachtnain (see Lough).

(So, going by the above, the occupation of "Housekeeper" would fit)

Place of Origin-- Loftin Immigrants
Ireland-- 3
Great Britain --1
Germany --1
England --1

Top Occupations for Loftin in 1880
Farmer--49%
Farm Laborer--9%
Laborer--8%
Keeping House--4%

Life Expectancy for Loftin:
2002--76 years average
1948--51 years average

Answer 3

click on the ancestry link that claims Loftin is Swedish.
Now... on that page, click on where it says 'place of origin".
Gosh. None of them came from Sweden. SOME came from Ireland, and others came from other places. Of course, read the fine print some more, and THAT info only comes from the NY passenger lists.
So.. I can't tell you where the name comes from, but I can say that it does not necessarily come from any ONE place. The real question is where the person comes from.
I am blond and quite caucasian. My name (in school)was Siu.. it actually was my stepfather's name. I have NO Chinese ancestry at all. A persons name is not a guarantee of anything.
Don't generalize on a surname. Find out with documentation, where YOUR Loftin immigrant came from. And please, don't go near houseofnames.com

Answer 4

Loftin is actually of English origin/descent

The Loftin family crest was a black shield with a silver chevron engraved between three silver trefoils.

Some variations of the surname are: Loftus, Lofthouse, Loftis, Loftiss, Loftos.

The different variations are due to the lack of spelling rules in the early English language, so there were many variations in spelling in early Anglo-Saxon surnames.

Answer 5

Swedish according to this source.