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Recently, I was in a phonebooth at the airport in St. Louis when I overheard the man in the booth behind me talking to someone. He said, "tell them that this is Chuck Loftus calling....".  Ok, so I was nosey - but I couldn't help overhearing that! In my rush to see another "Loftus" I akwardly interrupted his phone conversation by handing him my business card. Then, in a really annoying gesture, I reached over and pointed to my name and said, "there are now 9 of us!" He must have thought some nut had just attacked his booth! Fortunately, before he went into cardiac arrest, he saw the "Loftus" and grinned. Later, after I let him continue his phone conversation, we had a chance to talk for a couple minutes before our flights departed.

Chuck told me that the Loftus name (which even the Irish consider to be an "old" Irish name) pre-dated Ireland and went back to the early Vikings from Norway.

The name "Loftus" appears in street names and there is even a village by that name located on the Hardangerfjord near Bergen.

When I did a search on the net, I found out that a former U.S. Ambassador to Norway was: (you guessed it) - The Honorable Ambassador Thomas A. Loftus!