Teagan ?boy or girl?

Jimbob1977 · 17-09-2010 2:04pm

There was a Tegan/Teagan in "Home and Away" during the mid-1990s. She was a wild child and quite grouchy.

implausible · 17-09-2010 2:05pm

It depends on what you want OP. It's a beautiful name and if it has Irish connotations and a meaning for you, then go for it. If, however, you want your child to have a recognisably Irish name, then Teagan isn't it, as the vast majority of Irish people will not regard it as being an Irish name.

The second name, Elizabeth, is beautiful too. You could use the Irish version of it - Eilis/Eilish/Ailish.

implausible · 17-09-2010 2:13pm

Sundew wrote: »

I have a friend called Sadbh (pronnounced Sive) and is a name that is very rarely used, but is a proper Irish name.

It's been in the top 100 names in Ireland for the past few years.

LucyLouLou · 17-09-2010 2:21pm

Always thought of Teagan as a girls name but always thought it was a Welsh name, probally down as Irish in some places because it's gaelic and then they just automatically asume that's Irish, forgetting that gaelic can mean Irish, Welsh, Scottish or Manx.

Scoobydoobydoo · 17-09-2010 2:39pm

I wouldn't for a second consider this name to be Irish, I would consider it to be American if I had to guess, as it's only through American popular culture that I've ever heard it used, though I see your book says it's Welsh.
Never, ever heard it here, though I'd expect there is a recent batch of babies given names inspired by U.S. tv characters etc. and that is the only way I'd imagine you'd find a name like this used in Ireland, but certainly not Irish in origin.
Some of these Irish name books I find a bit strange, but I can only make a suggestion that you look to names from Irish mythology to find some genuine Irish names.

thompssn · 17-09-2010 2:56pm

Thaedydal wrote: »

I have family in wales, I know it as a welsh name meaning fair/beautiful.

http://medievalscotland.org/problem/names/tegan.shtml

Many site ones will lump all the celtic both P and Q and all the different countries under the term celtic and then many
american sites take that as to mean irish and post the info about all celtic names under the title irish names.

Thanks much for the link! I enjoyed the new background info and was led to some interesting name lists.

I had begun to wonder about the possibility of all Celtic names being lumped together as "Irish". Just confused because some of the sites and all of the hardcopy books I have are actually Irish, not American. In-fact an old baby name book I just picked up today at a local charity shop had other "new to me" info about the name. Said that it was Irish and was Male. That it came from Tadg/Tadc and was "generally anglicised in the North of Ireland to Taig, Teague, Teagan" and that it was also used as a derogatory term. Pretty sure I'm not happy with this book's point of view!

Das Kitty · 17-09-2010 3:02pm

If it is Irish (and I'm not sure it is) it could be a derivative of the feminine of Tadhg, Tadhgín. In Irish the feminine form of a lot of names is made by simply adding ín at the end. For example, the irish for Patricia is Pádraigín. Confusingly some people use the ín version as a pet name for the guy as it literally means "little".

Then again I've never heard of anyone called Tadhgín so this could be a pointless post!

Sundew · 17-09-2010 3:03pm

deemark wrote: »

It's been in the top 100 names in Ireland for the past few years.

Never look at the C.S.O namelists so wasn't aware of this.

Somebody mentioned Naoise earlier. I have actually never heard of a female being called this so thats new one for me.
I always associate the name with the Ex Tipperary hurler called Naoise Jordan

implausible · 17-09-2010 5:23pm

thompssn wrote: »

That it came from Tadg/Tadc and was "generally anglicised in the North of Ireland to Taig, Teague, Teagan" and that it was also used as a derogatory term.

A 'Taig' would be an insulting term for a Catholic in the North. I doubt the name comes from that though!

Posy · 17-09-2010 11:13pm

From seeing the title of the thread, I would think it's an American name and a female one. Never heard of it being an Irish name at all, never heard the name in any Irish context. I do think it's a pretty name though.

crazy cat lady · 19-09-2010 9:17am

I've only ever known it as a girls name but spelt 'Tiegan'

I think its a really pretty name

MzFit · 20-09-2010 10:29am

deemark wrote: »

A 'Taig' would be an insulting term for a Catholic in the North. I doubt the name comes from that though!

That's exactly what I was thinking. It would be a very bad move to name an Irish-born child this in my opinion. Whether you'll be pronouncing it as "teegan" or "taygan", there will be a lot who will go with the latter option and "taig" will be the unfortunate by-line. You open the child up to the possibility of ridicule. Having a horrible, unreadable-unpronounceable name myself, I would never wish this on anyone.

implausible · 20-09-2010 1:21pm

MzFit wrote: »

Whether you'll be pronouncing it as "teegan" or "taygan", there will be a lot who will go with the latter option and "taig" will be the unfortunate by-line.

In fairness though, the word 'taig' probably doesn't even register in the south of the country. I've only heard it in the north. I don't think pronunciation is an issue either, the surnames Reagan and Egan are common enough and the pronunciation 'taygan' would only be found in the Wesht.

MzFit · 20-09-2010 5:15pm

deemark wrote: »

In fairness though, the word 'taig' probably doesn't even register in the south of the country. I've only heard it in the north. I don't think pronunciation is an issue either, the surnames Reagan and Egan are common enough and the pronunciation 'taygan' would only be found in the Wesht.

Two rebuttals to that:
1) I'm a Dubliner and the first thing that occurred to me was "taig".
2) My first inclination was also to read it as "taygan" and I've heard Americans read it like this more often than "teegan"! (Ronald Reagan, anyone?)

Chuchoter · 21-09-2010 10:01pm

Tegan (thats how I'd spell it?) is one of my favorite names, but I think its just for girls.

thompssn · 23-09-2010 1:51pm

The pronunciation issues seem to mostly be with the "Tegan" version of it. People not knowing if it's teg-an (teg, like peg) or tea-gan. (At least in the US and Canada). That's why the "a" was added to those wishing to pronounce it tea (tee) -gan.

I know quite a few American's named Regan and Ke(e)gan. And never heard of anyone having problems with pronunciation. I think Teagan would be pretty easy, just based on sight. By no means would it ever cross my mind as being "a horrible, unreadable-unpronounceable name".

All of this was interesting, informative and could have been helpful, and I thank everyone who contributed. However, the anatomy scan yesterday has rendered the issue irrelevant! (In my current circumstance, anyway.)

We found out we're having a Conor.

implausible · 23-09-2010 2:28pm

thompssn wrote: »

We found out we're having a Conor.

:DHilarious, after 4 pages of discussion!

Congrats!

cinderella2010 · 23-09-2010 6:16pm

Here are two Irish girl names I love

Siofra - pronounced Shee-fra

I also love Sadbh - pronounced Si-av

finally Cadhla - ka-la

?Cee?view · 24-09-2010 12:34am

thompssn wrote: »

We found out we're having a Conor.

Congrats - hope all continues to go well with the little man.

Now, why don't you spell Conor with a K - Konor - and we can have another discussion on that

Best of luck!

Scoobydoobydoo · 25-09-2010 9:44am

churchview wrote: »

why don't you spell Conor with a K - Konor - Best of luck!

Please don't do that, that's a horrible thing to do to a lovely name! Yuck!

?Cee?view · 26-09-2010 8:30pm

Scoobydoobydoo wrote: »

Please don't do that, that's a horrible thing to do to a lovely name! Yuck!

Sense of humour radar broken?

LegacyUser · 26-08-2016 1:32pm

I'm a girl and my name is Teigan
And did you ever hear of Chrissy Teigen

Moonbeam · 27-08-2016 10:08am

It is a girls name and as far as I know it is Welsh .

pooch90 · 27-08-2016 12:02pm

6 year old thread?

Tar.Aldarion · 27-08-2016 12:41pm

Saruman wrote: »

Well the music group Tegan & Sarah are girls if that helps.

Was about to mention these, only place I heard the name, nice name.

degsie · 27-08-2016 12:46pm

Zombie thread alert!

myshirt · 27-08-2016 12:51pm

I immediately thought of the pornstar also.

Tar.Aldarion · 27-08-2016 1:00pm

What's really weird is how many people know whoever this teagan pornstar is

CelticRambler · 27-08-2016 1:40pm

thompssn wrote: »

The pronunciation issues seem to mostly be with the "Tegan" version of it. People not knowing if it's teg-an (teg, like peg) or tea-gan. (At least in the US and Canada). That's why the "a" was added to those wishing to pronounce it tea (tee) -gan.

If it was Irish, it'd be Tchagan (as in teanga, teach, Teagasc ... )

Teyla Emmagan · 27-08-2016 2:32pm

Teagan is an American idea of an Irish name (like Coleen). You never actually hear it here. But given you're American I think you could get away with it OP! It's not a bad name. I have only heard of it on girls though.

Teagan ?boy or girl?

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