Teague
Masculine · “poet”
Teague is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,705 boys against 32 girls since 1880.
Teague is a poet. The Irish Tadhg was one of the commonest names in medieval Ireland and it means exactly that: a poet, in a culture where poets were professionals with legal standing and real power. English clerks wrote what they heard, and Teague is the result.
How old is the name Teague?
Teague first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Teague alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,700 people named Teague are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Teague most popular?
Teague peaked in 2006, reaching #1713 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 3,332 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Tadhg to Teague
The story of Teague
Tadhg was so common in medieval Ireland that English writers used Teague as a generic label for an Irishman, and it was used as an insult for centuries afterward, which is a real part of the name's history. In Ireland the name itself never went away, and it is usually anglicized now as Tadhg or Timothy rather than Teague. As an American first name it belongs to the last few decades, part of a wider fashion for short Irish surnames and names.
Meaning
poet
Irish Tadhg, a poet or a philosopher. Early Irish law gave poets rank and protection, and satire from a poet was a genuine danger, so the word carries more weight than the English one does.
How the name formed
- Tadhg
- Teague
Related forms: Tadhg · Taog
Pronouncing Teague
TEEG
One syllable, rhyming with league. The Irish Tadhg is said TIEG, rhyming with vague, which is a noticeably different sound.
Nicknames for Teague
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1969
- Most boys named
- 200988 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1713reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −17.4%19 in 2025, from 23
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Teague in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tadhg in Irish — same name
- Taog in Scottish Gaelic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Teagues among us
people named Teague are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Teague
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Romell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Teague's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Romell climbed just as high around 1979, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Romell's path sketches the road Teague is walking now.
Teague sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Teague beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Teague in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a real profession with genuine standing in the culture it comes from.
- One syllable and six letters: fast to say and hard to mangle.
- It is unmistakably Irish without being difficult for English speakers.
- The word was used for centuries as an insult for Irish people, and in parts of Britain and Ireland it still is.
- Tadhg is the Irish spelling and is said quite differently, so records may diverge within a family.
- A one-syllable name gives nothing to shorten and no change of register.
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What they receive
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Teague
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Teagues are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Teague are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Teague in 2025?
- Teague ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Teague?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Teague — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Teague with classmates?
- Teague will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Teague
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Silver#5045 · Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Mehmet#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Tavares#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Teague? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Teague and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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