Lobban is a Morayshire name, although it finds its origins at Drumderfit in Easter Ross.

In the 13th century, there was a battle at Drumderfit between the Frasers and a clan called Logan (by some accounts) or Loban (by others). Those who purport that the battle was fought between the Logans and the Frasers say that the name Loban derives from the sole surviving Logan who hid himself beneath a cam-loban, or peat cart, to avoid slaughter. Other accounts suggest that the Lobans who fought at the Battle of Drumderfit later became known as Logan.

The MacLennans also trace their ancestry back to the battle of Drumderfit. The widow of the defeated Logan or Loban chief (Gilligorm) was carried of by the Frasers and later gave birth to a deformed son, Crotair Mac Gilligorm (the hunchback son of Gilligorm). It is believed that his back was broken by the Frasers to prevent him avenging his father. He was raised and educated by the monks of Beauly and later joined the church, founding the churches of Kilmor in Skye and Kilchrinin in Glenelg. An ardent follower the Irish Saint Finnean (who was also a revered saint in Scotland) he named one of his sons Gillie Finnean (servant of St Finnean) the anglicised form of which eventually became MacLennan.

A wooden effigy of Gilligorm was preserved at Drumderfit until the house was burnt in the 1715 rising by government soldiers.

It is widely reported, although not necessarily universally accepted, that the highland Logans, who fought at Drumdefit and later became known as MacLennans, were unrelated to the lowland Logans who lived in Edinburgh area.

Whichever of the above accounts are true, the facts are that a family named Loban lived for centuries at Drumderfit giving rise to the local saying "as old as the Lobans of Drumderfit" and that a William Lobbane appears in 1564 as a tenant at Drumderfit.

The earliest spelling of Lobban documented on this site is an Alexander Lobban who was married to a Taylor and had two sons. The eldest of these children was christened in 1684 implying that Alexander Lobban was born sometime before 1667.

The earliest phonetically similar occurrence of Lobban documented on this site is of a Patrik Lowbane who had a daughter Jannet in 1574, implying that Patrik Lowbane was born sometime before 1557.