Yes, I noticed that in the Harbour Grace baptism records, Henry and Ann Luffman children's names were recorded differently over time. The first two were Loffman, the next two Loftman, then Luftman, then finally the last few (including the delightfully named Eglantine) were Luffmans. I don't suppose the trend continued until some of the Luffmans became Loughmans? I feel your pain, I'm researching a surname that I think is a corruption of something else, but I can't figure out what.
It is possible that John Loughman was Protestant with Catholic servants and the census taker got it wrong. There were lots of exceptions, but I think servants tended more to be Irish and planters were more likely to be English. Merchants heading out to Newfoundland from Devon often stopped in southern Ireland to pick up extra supplies and workers.
j.
