Teagan ?boy or girl?

thompssn

My husband and I are both American. We moved to Ireland about 3 years ago. I'm pregnant with #1. We thought that getting pregnant was impossible. And, as a result have been told by many that we have gotten a little boost of "Irish luck".

With this in mind we thought it appropriate to pick at least one "Irish" name for our child.

For a boy we chose Conor Dale. And for a girl, Teagan Elizabeth.

I recently decided to play around online and see what other middle names people had chosen to go with Conor/Teagan.

Apparently there is a HUGE debate on if Teagan is a boy, girl, or unisex name. Most people were casual about their opinion, but some people were acting Outraged that it was even a Question! Most seemed to be a parent of a boy named Teagan/Tegan. And were saying things like "My Husband (Actually FROM Ireland) and Son are Teagan, it's Obviously a Masculine name. People are idiots who think otherwise." Or, "Why would you be so Stupid and name a girl a BOY name, what a disgrace." And, "My son is Teagan, he's in a class with 5 other Teagans...all boys. I'm sure that makes ME right. It's a boys name, pick again."

I've never personally encountered a Teagan here and found the name on an Irish Names website that seemed more authentic than most. It was listed as a girls name and sounded feminine enough to me. http://www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/girl-names-n-z.html

If we end up moving back to our rural home in the U.S., I wouldn't think twice about naming a daughter Teagan. But, if we end up staying here for a while I wouldn't want to give her a commonly known boys name.

So, is Teagan considered a boy or girl name in Ireland?
~Thanks All

phasers

I've never heard the name tbh, but just from reading it I'd say it was a girl's name.

Herbal Deity

The only time I've ever heard the name Teagan is in relation to the following porn star:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teagan_Presley

So yeah, female IMO.

exaisle

Teagan was one of Doctor Who's (female) assistants back in the 80s I think....

KylieWyley

I can't say I've ever come across that name. Don't know/haven't met any Teagan. Don't know where online you've come across that name, but I'd hazard a guess that you'd be very hard pressed to come across any Irish folks who know a Teagan..

Might you be thinking of the male name Tadhg? (pronounced Tie-ggg)

TanG411

When I read the thread title, I assumed the name Teagan was a girl's name.

Rasmus

I haven't come across the name before, but a quite googling shows it to be a direct translation of Tadhg, therefore it would be a boy's name. When I first read 'Teagan' I thought it sounded pretty American!

keane2097

Female porn star was my immediate reaction as well tbh.

carolinespring

thompssn wrote: »

My husband and I are both American. We moved to Ireland about 3 years ago. I'm pregnant with #1. We thought that getting pregnant was impossible. And, as a result have been told by many that we have gotten a little boost of "Irish luck".

With this in mind we thought it appropriate to pick at least one "Irish" name for our child.

For a boy we chose Conor Dale. And for a girl, Teagan Elizabeth.

I recently decided to play around online and see what other middle names people had chosen to go with Conor/Teagan.

Apparently there is a HUGE debate on if Teagan is a boy, girl, or unisex name. Most people were casual about their opinion, but some people were acting Outraged that it was even a Question! Most seemed to be a parent of a boy named Teagan/Tegan. And were saying things like "My Husband (Actually FROM Ireland) and Son are Teagan, it's Obviously a Masculine name. People are idiots who think otherwise." Or, "Why would you be so Stupid and name a girl a BOY name, what a disgrace." And, "My son is Teagan, he's in a class with 5 other Teagans...all boys. I'm sure that makes ME right. It's a boys name, pick again."

I've never personally encountered a Teagan here and found the name on an Irish Names website that seemed more authentic than most. It was listed as a girls name and sounded feminine enough to me.

If we end up moving back to our rural home in the U.S., I wouldn't think twice about naming a daughter Teagan. But, if we end up staying here for a while I wouldn't want to give her a commonly known boys name.

So, is Teagan considered a boy or girl name in Ireland?
~Thanks All

My friend called her little girl Teagan and I run a pre-school and we have another little girl called Teagan. If you like the name just go with it and sod anyone who dose not like it.

Congratulations and enjoy babs

Shelli2

The direct translation of Tadhg is Timothy.

Teagan is a girls name, with a different meaning, I have a book about it at home, I'll chek it out and update this reply when I get home.

it's a lovely name btw, it was actually on my list for a girl....we had a boy in the end.

foxinsox

I first heard Teagan a few years back, a Scottish girl I was working with, she had called her daughter Teagan, about ten years ago.

I've only ever heard it as a girls name.

eimearcmh

Teagan is the name of Donna's sister in Neighbours(Australian soap). Personally i would also associate it with being a girls name.

thompssn

This was the first link I found it on.

http://www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/girl-names-n-z.html

On this one it claims to be the Irish form of a Welsh name. Some others said it was a variant of Tadhg (and therefore male). Maybe that's where the difference of opinion comes from.

I have found it on about 10 other "Baby Name" sites. Around 6 had it as a Female name, 2 said Unisex, and 2 said Male.

I was just surprised at how Offended some people were about it being used as a female name. And all of those people claimed some kind of actual Irish knowledge of the subject. So I thought this would be the best place to ask.

goose2005

keane2097 wrote: »

Female porn star was my immediate reaction as well tbh.

Mine too!

The male Teagan is an Irish name (Tadhgáin) meaning "poet", related to Tadgh/Tadhg. The female Tegan/Teagan is Welsh for "fair". So you have male and female names of different origins converging.

thompssn

Yes, I also stumbled across the Porn Star connection! Though, to be honest it's hard to find Any name these days that isn't associated with some Porn Star or another.

People were actually using that as justification on why it was a Male name, if that makes any sense. Something along the lines of: "This is the Only female I know of with the name, and look how stupid it is for her. Makes you think of a man, not a pretty female."

I don't know. I guess I'm just always shocked at how truly Upset people get over things that really don't matter in the long run. If I'm going to put any energy into being Outraged over something, it's not going to be over what name someone chooses for their child.

I just wanted to make sure that I didn't run the risk of sending a little girl to school here with a name that was the equivalent of David, Liam, or the like!

January

Teagan is a girls name... well to me anyway! I've only ever heard of girls being named it and had it on the list for my second daughter Lovely name!

mariebeth

I think there used to be a female character on home & away called Taegan...that's my only reference. I would associate it as a girls name, it sounds too feminine to be a boys name. I think it's a lovely name by the way.

JohnK

I've only come across the name once and I instantly thought female when I heard it. I'd actually be surprised if I was introduced to a man/boy named Teagan but I've heard some people convinced that the Teagan I've heard of must be a man so there must be some element of unisex to it.

I wonder though if it has anything to do with it sounding very similar to Keegan and perhaps this guy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Keegan

implausible

thompssn wrote: »

With this in mind we thought it appropriate to pick at least one "Irish" name for our child.

For a boy we chose Conor Dale. And for a girl, Teagan Elizabeth.

I would automatically think female, but to be honest, it would not be considered a typical Irish name, well definitely not in the way that Conor is. It would be perceived as being American, in the same league as Taylor for example.

Nevyn

It's welsh not irish and it's female.

Sundew

I was really surprised to see Tegan mentioned as an "Irish name". I certainly would not recognize it as such.
Nice name but certainly foreign in my opinion .just my tuppence worth

XxMCRxBabyxX

I have only ever heard of Teagan as being a girls name. I also wouldn't associate it as being an Irish name either, the only Teagan's I have ever heard of are South Africans I knew when living in Botswana as a kid and from American TV. it is a nice name though!

?Cee?view

Sorry, but there's just no way it's an Irish name.

As to whether it's a male or female name. I don't know, I've never heard it before, but for some reason it just sounds like a girl's name - dunno why though.

LordSutch

I remember Tegan in Doctor Who many years ago ..............



Slightly different spelling though.

Moonbeam

Only ever heard it as a girls name and in the name books/websites it is also listed as a girls name.
I wouldn't worry we have plenty of names in Ireland that can be used for either eg Naoise a boys name originally but plenty of girls called Naoise now too.
If you like the name use it!

Saruman

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

thompssn

For those of you who are making Strong Assertions that there's No Way it's an Irish name, I was just wondering Why you feel that way? I've found lots of proof that it is considered one, and nothing other than unbacked claims that it's not.

I'm not saying that you're Wrong, I'm just a little surprised. All of the debate that I've come across in other places is between it being Male or Female, not about it being Irish/Not Irish. And, I wasn't under the impression that it's a horribly popular Irish name. I'm just a little taken aback because everything I've looked at online, and in hardcopy Irish Baby Name books we've been given recently (some printed In Ireland as far back as the late 90's) have it listed as an "Irish" name. At the very most removed, they have it listed as an Irish-form of a Welsh name. But, some as just a variant of other Irish names.

I just like information to base my decisions on.

(Not very good at navigating message boards, obviously...lol) Don't know how/if you can reply to more than one message at a time, and didn't want to post this over and over as a reply to everyone individually.

~Thanks to Everyone so far. I'm quite please at how much/pleasant activity my post received so quickly. Much better than my experiences on other similar sites.


One more thing: It's very interesting to find out what a popular name it is in other parts of the world. FYI, I also ran across a message board on FB that had TONS of girls named "TEGAN" posting about comical misspellings and mispronunciation they've had to deal with. Most all of them seemed to be from Canada!

JohnK

thompssn wrote: »

For those of you who are making Strong Assertions that there's No Way it's an Irish name, I was just wondering Why you feel that way? I've found lots of proof that it is considered one, and nothing other than unbacked claims that it's not.

Probably because few people would ever have heard of anyone in Ireland with that name where as you'd hear of a few non-Irish Teagans.

thompssn

JohnK wrote: »

Probably because few people would ever have heard of anyone in Ireland with that name where as you'd hear of a few non-Irish Teagans.

Posted a "quick reply", but don't see it, sorry if this ends up coming up twice.

I originally said something along the lines of:

That's very understandable. And it's what I assumed most of the people were thinking who said they didn't Think it was, or that they had never come across it.

I was just wondering about the people who were so Absolute in their responses that it was Not Irish. Most of the time people who are that Positive/Sure about something have a reason. You and others provided good reasons for your opinion. The assertions just didn't seem have any.

Nevyn

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.

Sundew

The only link I have discovered from the web is that as a surname Tegan may be related to the Irish surname McTeague. Personally I think this is an extremely tenious link!
http://wiki.name.com/en/Tegan

Granted the name is not that comon here, but there are also proper Irish names that are not that common either.
I have a friend called Sadbh (pronnounced Sive) and is a name that is very rarely used, but is a proper Irish name.

Perhaps somebody in the History/heritage section may have a better knowledge of the history of Irishnames.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=330