McGlothlin is a variant spelling of McLaughlin, a name with both Irish and Scottish origins. McLaughlin is the Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Lochlainn, ‘son of the Scandinavian’, from the personal name Lochlann. Lochlann, a personal name meaning ‘stranger’, originally denoting a Scandinavian from the west of Norway (a Viking) or the Norse (Viking)-dominated part of Scotland.

In Irish Gaelic, the adjectival noun, ‘Lochlannach’ has the additional sense of robber/raider/marauder’. To further confuse the origin of the name, in Ireland some of the McLaughlins were originally O’Melaghlin – descendants of the King of Meath (Wikepedia; www.familyeducation.com).

The McGlothlin name appears to date back to medieval Ireland or Scotland with possible connection to the Viking raiders. The ancestors of this branch probably came to America prior to the Revolutionary War. The name McGlothlin or McLaughlin appears in the records of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. The variant spellings are many!

The ancestry and descendants of Harry William McGlothlin tells an American story from Virginia and Kentucky to the settlement of Wisconsin.