Teghan
An Anglicized form of an ancient Irish Gaelic name meaning "little poet".
Name Census estimates that about 410 living Americans carry the first name Teghan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Teghan today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Teghan births was 2013 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Teghan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Teghan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
410
~ 1 in 835,986 Americans
Peak year
2013
27 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,152
Tracked since 1989
Census
Teghan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 400 people with the first name Teghan, which placed it at #24,171 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#24,171
National first-name rank
People counted
400
400 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Teghan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teghan is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Hispanic (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Teghan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Teghan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.3% · 289
- Black or African American12.8% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 28
- Two or more races6.3% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Teghan
Teghan leans heavily female at 85.8% of total registrations, but 59 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Teghan as a male name
- Ranked #13,916 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 2006 (10 births)
Teghan as a female name
- Ranked #11,152 in 2022
- 9 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2010 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Teghan leans strongly female. 321 people counted with this name were female (80.7%), compared with 77 male bearers (19.3%).
Popularity
Teghan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Teghan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 192 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Teghan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Teghan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Teghan
The given name Teghan has its roots in the Irish language and culture. It is believed to have originated as a variation of the name Tadhg, a diminutive form of the name Taidgh. The name Taidgh itself is derived from the Old Irish word "tóg," which means "poet" or "philosopher."
The earliest recorded use of the name Teghan dates back to the 8th century CE, when it was mentioned in ancient Irish manuscripts and annals. It was particularly popular among the Gaelic clans and families of Ireland during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Teghan was Teghan of Glendalough, a renowned Irish monk and scribe who lived in the 9th century CE. He is known for his contributions to the Book of Armagh, a famous illuminated manuscript containing the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament in Latin.
Another notable figure in history with the name Teghan was Teghan O'Donnell, a 14th-century Irish chieftain and lord of Tirconnell (now part of County Donegal, Ireland). He played a significant role in the Irish campaigns against the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland during the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
In the 16th century, Teghan O'Rourke was a prominent Irish poet and bard from County Leitrim. He was renowned for his poetic compositions and contributions to the preservation of Irish literature and culture during a time of significant turmoil and oppression.
Moving to more recent times, Teghan George was a 19th-century Irish artist and painter known for her landscape paintings of the Irish countryside. Born in 1823 in County Tipperary, she gained recognition for her vivid depictions of the natural beauty of her homeland.
Lastly, Teghan O'Brien was an Irish-American labor activist and trade unionist who lived from 1878 to 1955. She played a crucial role in organizing and advocating for the rights of workers in the textile industry in the early 20th century, particularly in the New England region of the United States.
While the name Teghan has its origins in the Irish language and culture, it has gained popularity and usage in various parts of the world, particularly among families with Irish heritage or those who appreciate the rich cultural significance of the name.
People
Teghan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Teghan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Teghan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Teghan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 410 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Teghan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 835,986 US residents.
Is Teghan a common name?
We classify Teghan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 415 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Teghan most popular?
The single biggest year for Teghan was 2013, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Teghan is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Teghan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 400 people with the name Teghan, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,171 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Teghan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Teghan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Teghan leans strongly female. 321 people counted with this name were female (80.7%), compared with 77 male bearers (19.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Teghan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Teghan is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Hispanic (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Teghan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Teghan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (289 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Teghan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Teghan a female name?
Yes, 85.8% of people registered as Teghan in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Teghan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Teghan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Teghan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Teghan?
Find out how many Americans are named Teghan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.