It is also designated _Fortreatha Laighen_ by the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn.

The district, probably, received this name from the family of _Eoichaidh Finn Fothart_, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles.
[112] _Armagh_--Fol.

16, a.a.
[113] _Patricius_ .-- This name was but an indication of rank.

In the later years of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says, "the meanest subjects of the Roman Empire [5th century] assumed the illustrious name of Patricius."-- _Decline and Fall_, vol.viii.p.

300.