boy's name
Lochlan
LOKH-lan
- Origin Scottish
- Gender Boy
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 9,857
the United States
#644
2025 births
Lochlan is a boy's name of Gaelic origin meaning "land of the lochs," which was the Irish and Scottish term for Scandinavia — so in practice it means Norseman. It ranks 61st in Scotland.
- Lochlan is a name of Scottish origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 444 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 7,467 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1998.
Lochlan over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1990s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1990s | 20 |
| 2000s | 407 |
| 2010s | 2,469 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,074 |
What Lochlan means
Lochlan means land of lakes or fjords. Gaelic speakers used Lochlann for Scandinavia, so the name attached to people from there, and Viking or Norseman is the sense it actually carried in use.
Where Lochlan comes from
Lochlan comes from the Gaelic Lochlann, built on loch, a lake or sea inlet, and used from the Viking age onward as the name for Scandinavia, particularly Norway — a country seen from Ireland as a place of fjords. A man called Lochlann was therefore a Norseman, and the name entered Irish and Scottish use during the centuries of Norse settlement, when intermarriage between Gaelic and Scandinavian families was routine. The Scottish form Lachlann gives Lachlan, which dominates in Australia; the Irish Lochlainn gives Loughlin and the surname MacLachlainn. Lochlan with one letter n is a modern simplified spelling rather than a traditional one. The name is a rare case of an ethnic label for outsiders becoming a common given name among the people who coined it.
Lochlan in use
Lochlan ranks 61st in Scotland with 82 births in 2024 and 257th in England and Wales, and it is rising in our data with a peak in 2025. It holds 644th in the United States, where Lachlan is the better-known spelling. Our records carry it only from 1998, so this particular spelling is recent even by revival standards.
How popular is Lochlan?
In 2025, Lochlan was given to 444 babies in the United States, ranking #644 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Lochlan is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Lochlan
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Lochlan also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Lochlan over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Lochlan in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Lochlan
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Lochlan — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Lochlan
What does the name Lochlan mean?
Lochlan means "land of the lochs," which was the Gaelic name for Scandinavia — so in use it meant Norseman.
Is Lochlan the same as Lachlan?
They are forms of the same name. Lachlan is the Scottish spelling that dominates in Australia.
Is Lochlan a Viking name?
Not Norse itself. It is the Gaelic word for a Norseman, coined by the people the Vikings raided.
How popular is Lochlan?
Sixty-first in Scotland and 257th in England and Wales.
Is Lochlan a girl's or a boy's name?
Lochlan is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
Is Lochlan a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Lochlan currently ranks #61 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.