Family Names for Sale: Teagan

Tegan Quin, from stealherstyle.net

I went through a long phase of adoring the name Tegan, but using her has always posed a problem for me, especially since nowadays, not only do I have a cousin named Teagan, I now have a goddaughter named Megan. How many -gan’s can one family have? Either way, I think my cousin Teagan is a fantastic personality, even if she may not be the best role model, since she still thinks she’s a uni student.

Either way, Teagan is now a name I feel is out of bounds, even though I still love her. The name Teagan has a variety of spellings, alongside being used for both males and females:

Tegan – 402 girls (#137, just below Violet), 7 boys

Tegen – 5 girls

Teagan – 167 girls (#285, just below Lila), 3 boys (+ 3 male Teagues)

+ 12 male Tadghs.

The name Teagan is from an Irish surname, whereas Tegan comes from good ol’ Wales.

Let’s start with Teagan, since that is my cousin’s name. She comes from the surname Ó Tadhgáin, which means descendant of Tadhgáin. The latter is another form of the name Tadgh, which means poet. Tadgh is not pronounced Teeg, rather tieg, like the beginning of tiger.

Then Tegan comes from the Welsh element teg, which means fair or even beautiful.

In terms of pronunciation, there are also a variety of choices – decisions decisions! – my cousin says TEE-gan, but you could also say it to rhyme wit Megan, or even say TAY-gan.  

The best known Tegan that comes to mind is Tegan Rain Quin, of the indie duo Tegan and Sara, but that may be because I used to listen to them. We also have Tegan Jovanka, an Australian airline stewardess who travelled with the fourth and fifth Doctors in Doctor Who. She appeared on the programme between 1981 and 1984, making her the longest serving continuous companion of the Doctor.