My thoughts this morning over a cup of coffee!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The LOW**Y Name

Lowry
The Lowrys came from northern Ireland and certainly from Scotland before then. Lowry and Lavery in Irish is "O Labhradha". They are found in almost equal numbers in northeast Ulster where the sept originated. Their territory in mediaeval times was in the neighborhood of Moira, Co. Down. Branches of the sept were called Baun-Lavery, Roe-Lavery and Trin-Lavery, these epithets being the Gaelic adjectives ban (white), rua (red) and tran (strong).
The Lowry surname is also found in Ulster as a result of 17th century settlers arriving there from Scotland. Scottish families are found here under the spelling of Laurie as well. The Earl Belmore family is recorded as arriving from Scotland at the time and settling in County Tyrone, and he was said to be of the Laurie family of Maxwelton. The Scottish people from Ulster are often referred to as "Scot-Irish".
The first record of the name Laurie was found in Dumfriesshire around 1000 AD where the archives record several spellings of the name. Scribes and church officials spelt the name phonetically (from its sound) and thus we have the name variation found today. LAURIE, LAWRIE, LARRIE, LARRY, LAURY, LAWRY, LOWRIE and LOWRY are just some of the more commonly seen variations in Scotland and abroad. This was particularly true for the Lauries who moved to Ireland during the time of the Ulster Plantation of 1609, whose surnames throught time changed to Lavery, Lowry and O'Lowry. Other names associated with the Lauries are Bissett, Lavender and Green.
Clans from Scotland containing forms of the surname Lowry are GORDON (Septs include: Lawrie, Laurie) and MACLAREN (Septs include: Lawrie, Laurie, Lowery, Lowry).
Lowry (Lawrie and Lowrie) is an old Scottish name, for fox; it also means a crafty person.


COAT OF ARMS
VIRTUE IS ALWAYS FLOURISHING


Thought you would like to Know!
POP

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Grandpa, Thank you for the info, I've always wanted to know about our family and where it started. Would love to know more info. Thank you again. Terry