Head to head · Girls' names
Heidi vs Teagan
#340 vs #340 in 2025
Heidi and Teagan share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#340). The records cannot split them; sound and story will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Heidi leads 4 measures of 6; Teagan leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1920s: Heidi #3394, Teagan — — Heidi higher
- 1930s: Heidi #2244, Teagan — — Heidi higher
- 1940s: Heidi #790, Teagan — — Heidi higher
- 1950s: Heidi #309, Teagan — — Heidi higher
- 1960s: Heidi #121, Teagan — — Heidi higher
- 1970s: Heidi #73, Teagan #9010 — Heidi higher
- 1980s: Heidi #119, Teagan #5060 — Heidi higher
- 1990s: Heidi #274, Teagan #1654 — Heidi higher
- 2000s: Heidi #319, Teagan #527 — Heidi higher
- 2010s: Heidi #347, Teagan #215 — Teagan higher
- 2020s: Heidi #364, Teagan #285 — Teagan higher
Heidi stood higher in 9 of 11 decades; Teagan has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Heidi | Teagan |
|---|---|---|
| 1920s | #3394 | — |
| 1930s | #2244 | — |
| 1940s | #790 | — |
| 1950s | #309 | — |
| 1960s | #121 | — |
| 1970s | #73 | #9010 |
| 1980s | #119 | #5060 |
| 1990s | #274 | #1654 |
| 2000s | #319 | #527 |
| 2010s | #347 | #215 |
| 2020s | #364 | #285 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Heidi
- Scotland#91
Teagan
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Heidi
noble kind, noble sort
Heidi is a pet form of the Germanic Adelheid, from adal 'noble' and heit 'kind, sort, being'. The same root gives Adelaide.
Adalheidis → Adelheid → Heidi
How it traveled
The name begins as Adalheidis in Old High German, a compound of 'noble' and 'kind', and became Adelheid across the German-speaking lands. In Switzerland and southern Germany it was clipped, as long names are, to Heidi.
Teagan
Either "poet, storyteller" (Irish) or "fair, lovely" (Welsh)
The Irish road runs through Tadhg, an old given name meaning poet or bard, which produced the surname Ó Tadhgáin, anglicized as Teague, Tighe and Tegan. The Welsh road runs through teg, "fair, beautiful," with the diminutive -an, giving Tegan. Both are genuine; the spelling Teagan sits close enough to each that neither can claim it alone.
Tadhg → Ó Tadhgáin → Teague / Tegan → Teagan
How it traveled
Tadhg was a working name in medieval Ireland — borne by kings of Connacht and Munster — and so common that English speakers eventually used "Teague" as a rough shorthand for an Irishman. From the descendant surname Ó Tadhgáin came Teagan, Tegan and Tighe, carried to America by Irish families and later lifted off the surname shelf as a first name, as Ryan and Brennan were.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Heidi
HY-dee
The German 'ei' says 'eye', so the first syllable rhymes with 'high'. English and German say it the same way, which is why the spelling never had to change.
- Heidi — Already the short form of Adelheid, and used as a complete given name in English, German and Scandinavian records alike.
- Heids — Informal, spoken rather than written; friends and family use rather than anything official.
- Didi — A casual reshaping heard within families; does not stand alone as a given name in English.
- Adelheid — The formal long form in German-speaking countries, if a longer version is wanted on paper.
Teagan
TEE-gun
TEE-gun is the standard American pronunciation. TAY-gun is heard too, closer to some Irish and Welsh habits, so a bearer may want to state which one early. The Irish ancestor Tadhg itself sounds nothing like either — roughly TYG, rhyming with "tiger" cut short.
- Tee — The everyday short form, used at home and among friends; rarely written down.
- Teags — Informal, mostly from siblings and schoolmates rather than adults.
- T — Initial-only nickname common in sports and classrooms; works for a bearer of either sex.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Heidi if you want…
- a name on the way upup 41 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooHeidi is on the national lists of Scotland
Choose Teagan if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsTeagan is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Heidi
Strengths
- Spelled and said the same way in English and German — no adjustment needed when it crosses borders.
- Two syllables, phonetic in English, and almost never misheard once said aloud.
- Has a formal long form available, Adelheid or Adelaide, for anyone who wants one on a document.
To consider
- The Spyri novel is inseparable from the name. Expect Alps, goats and grandfathers to come up — affectionately, but often, and for life.
- It is a diminutive by origin, so there is no built-in longer version unless you register Adelheid or Adelaide and treat Heidi as the everyday name.
- Variant spellings like Heidy and Heidee exist, so the occasional form will come back needing correction — a small, repeated nuisance rather than a real problem.
Teagan
Strengths
- Short, two syllables, stress on the first — it survives being shouted, and most people spell it correctly after hearing it once.
- Carries a live Irish root: Tadhg is still an ordinary given name in Ireland, so the family line behind it is not a museum piece.
- Sits comfortably beside both single-syllable and long surnames, and the -an ending matches the current run of Rowan, Logan and Nolan.
To consider
- The spelling field is crowded: Teagan, Tegan, Teigan, Teegan and Taegan all exist, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often even though people will say it right.
- TEE-gun and TAY-gun both circulate. Neither is wrong, but the two versions do meet, and correcting the other one becomes a small lifelong habit.
- In the US this is chiefly a girl's name, while its Irish ancestor Tadhg belongs to men and a smaller number of American boys are given Teagan. Worth knowing if the ambiguity on paper matters to you.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Heidi and Teagan in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Heidi and Teagan?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Heidi and Teagan — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Heidi or Teagan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Heidi or Teagan?
- They tie in 2025: Heidi ranked #340 with 894 babies; Teagan ranked #340 with 894 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Heidi or Teagan?
- Heidi. Over the last five years Heidi moved up 41 places; Teagan moved down 149 places.
- Which is the older name, Heidi or Teagan?
- Heidi entered the US charts in 1929; Teagan entered the US charts in 1979. On the American record, Heidi is the older name.
- How many people are named Heidi and Teagan?
- About 141,000 people named Heidi are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 29,000 people named Teagan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Heidis or Teagans in the classroom?
- Heidi will almost certainly be the only one in school. Teagan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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