LAWLER

Irish (Ulster, Leinster, and Kerry): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Leathlobhair ‘descendant of Leathlobhar’, a personal name composed of the elements leath ‘half’ (i.e. ‘somewhat’, ‘fairly’) and lobar ‘leprous’, ‘sick’. The name seems to have been originally a byname for a man of unhealthy constitution.