Tyghe
A variant spelling of the Irish masculine name Tadhg, meaning "poet".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Tyghe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tyghe today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tyghe births was 1995 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tyghe. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tyghe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1995
6 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
1995 SSA rank
#8,802
Tracked since 1995
Popularity
Tyghe: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Tyghe 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 Tyghe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Tyghe
The name Tyghe is a variant spelling of the Irish name Tadhg, which is derived from the Old Irish word "taidg" meaning "poet" or "philosopher." This name has its roots in ancient Celtic culture, dating back to the 5th century AD.
The name Tadhg was particularly popular among the Irish nobility and ruling classes during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of this name was Tadhg Óg Ó Ceallaigh, an Irish king who ruled the territory of Uí Maine in the 12th century.
In the 16th century, the name Tadhg gained prominence with Tadhg Dall Ó Huiginn, a renowned Irish poet and historian who was blind from birth. His poetic works were highly regarded and helped preserve the Irish bardic tradition during a period of cultural upheaval.
Another notable figure with the name Tadhg was Tadhg Ó Neachtain, an Irish Franciscan friar who lived in the 17th century. He was a prolific writer and historian, best known for his chronicle of Irish affairs during the Confederate Wars of the 1640s.
In the 18th century, Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin was a prominent Irish language scholar and lexicographer. He compiled one of the first comprehensive Irish-English dictionaries, which helped preserve the Irish language during a time of English cultural dominance.
In more recent times, the variant spelling Tyghe has been used to represent this name. One famous bearer of this spelling was Tyghe Edmund Keating, an Irish-American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Representative from New York in the late 19th century.
While the name Tyghe is not as common as its original Irish form, it retains a rich cultural heritage and connection to the ancient Celtic traditions of Ireland. Its association with poets, scholars, and historians reflects the intellectual and literary legacy of this name.
People
Tyghe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tyghe 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
Tyghe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tyghe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tyghe 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Tyghe a common name?
We classify Tyghe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tyghe most popular?
The single biggest year for Tyghe was 1995, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tyghe is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Tyghe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tyghe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tyghe in the SSA data are male. 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 Tyghe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tyghe 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 Tyghe 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Tyghe?
Want to know how many people share the name Tyghe? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.