This rare and interesting surname is a variant of MacLarnon, which is of Irish and Scottish origin. The surname is derived from the Gaelic "Mac Giolla Earnain", devotee of St. Earnan; the Gaelic "mac" denotes "son of". The MacLarnon's were a sept of Iveagh in County Down, and the name is rarely found recorded outside of Ulster, in Scotland the surname is also very rare, but some of its variants can be found in most parts of Scotland. Several members of the sept appear in the Ulster Inquisitions as lessees and tenants, such as Hugh MacLerenan (1616, County Down) and Hugh Mac Lyrenan (1633, Antrim). One Daniel MacLorinon alias Lorinan of Tullboy, County Derry, was recorded as leaving a small sum of money to be divided equally between his parish pries and the local Protestant clergyman in 1745. Among the recordings in Ireland are the marriage of John McLorinan and Margaret Harkness on March 30th 1848 at Crumlin Presbyterian Church, County Antrim. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Mary McLarin (marriage to James Henderson), which was dated May 23rd 1568, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, during the reign of King James 1 of England and V1 of Scotland, 1567 - 1625. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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