Tadhg

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other recorded senses●

Tadhg is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Irish, ‘poet’; early Irish name, borne by an ancient name tradition.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In Irish, used in Ireland for Theodore; Greek 'gift of God'

  as a name·Irish first names

• In Irish, used in Ireland as the equivalent of Thaddeus; name of an apostle, thought identical with St Jude

  as a name·Irish first names

• Irish and Scottish Gaelic traditional name, pronounced ‘teig’. It was originally a byname meaning ‘poet’ or ‘philosopher’. This was a very common given - name in Ireland throughout the Middle Ages. Anglicized forms: Tad, Teague, Teigue.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• Irish and Scottish Gaelic: traditional name, originally a byname meaning ‘poet, philosopher’. This was a very common given name throughout the Middle Ages, and Protestants in modern Northern Ireland use Taig or Teague as a generic derogatory term for a Catholic Irishman. Variant: Scottish Gaelic: Taogh. Anglicized forms (Irish): Tad, Teague, Teigue, THADDEUS , Thady, Tim .

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 32 years between 1992–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Tadhg Mac Cárthaighb. 1455IEIrish bishop
• Tadhg mac Dáire Mac Bruaideadhab. 1570Irish Gaelic poet and historian
• Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháinb. 1715IEIrish poet
• Tadhg Murphyb. 1956IEIrish hurler and Gaelic footballer
• Tadhg Murphyb. 1979IEIrish film actor
• Tadhg Kennellyb. 1981IEIrish Gaelic and Australian rules footballer
• Tadhg Purcellb. 1985IEIrish footballer
• Tadhg Kellyb. 1988USactor from the United States
• Tadhg Furlongb. 1992IEIrish rugby union player
• Tadhg Beirneb. 1992IEIrish rugby union player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 142 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Tadhg?

We estimate roughly 444 people bear Tadhg (counting its spellings and scripts) across 6 countries in our records.

In which country does Tadhg have the most bearers?

Tadhg is most frequently recorded in Ireland, where it is most often spelled tadhg.

How common is Tadhg compared with other names?

In Ireland, Tadhg is the 158th most common given name of 13,994 given names recorded there.

Is Tadhg a male or female name?

Tadhg is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Tadhg mean?

Recorded meaning: used in Ireland for Theodosius; from Greek Theodotus, 'God given'