Variant of Lachlan, meaning 'from the land of fjords,' originally referring to Norse settlers in Scotland.
Locklan is a variant spelling of Lachlan, a Scottish Gaelic name with one of the more evocative etymologies in the Celtic naming tradition. The Gaelic "Lachlann" or "Lochlann" was the name the Irish and Scots gave to Scandinavia — literally "the land of the lochs" or, more specifically, the land of the fjords, referring to the Norse homelands across the sea. When Viking raiders and settlers arrived on Scottish and Irish shores from the eighth century onward, they were called "Lochlannaigh" — people of Lochlann — and the name gradually became a given name used to honor Norse ancestry or simply to evoke the sea-going, adventure-inflected character associated with the Norsemen.
The name has been borne by Scottish clan chieftains and Irish historical figures alike, and it appears throughout Gaelic literature. In Australia, where names of Scottish and Irish origin have remained popular across generations, Lachlan has consistently ranked among the top given names for boys — a legacy of the country's colonial history and its affection for Gaelic heritage. Lachlan Macquarie, the influential early nineteenth-century Governor of New South Wales, gave his name to the Lachlan River and embedded the name in Australian geography and identity.
The Locklan spelling, with its anglicized "Lock-" opening, appeals to parents who want the Gaelic sound and heritage without the less intuitive Gaelic orthography. It sits naturally alongside Declan, Ronan, and Cormac in the current wave of Celtic revival names.