My name is Tegan. It is pronounced tay-gen. I don’t understand why that is so difficult for people to understand. Tegan is a Welsh girl’s name and according to the Welsh baby book my parent’s have it means small gift or toy. According to various websites it also means fair/beautiful. However, contrary to some websites it is traditionally not pronounced “tee-gan.” If my name was “tee-gan” it would be spelled Teagen, or Teegan. My parent’s when choosing my name, actually asked my aunt Jenny to explain the origin/pronunciation. My aunt Jenny would know how to pronounce my name seeing as she teaches Medieval Welsh poetry at University College Dublin.
I would always smile when a substitute teacher pronounced my name right, or when a teacher on the first day of class would say my name correctly. In 6th and 7th grade my family and consumer science teacher consistently called me Teegan. I felt weird and never corrected her even though inside I was annoyed. My friends would try to help me out by exaggerating when they would say my name. Nothing worked with her.
My name was also mispronounced during the senior honors breakfast right before graduation. My mom was so angry she went up to the assistant principal and told him that they better get it right at graduation. Luckily they did.
My sisters had similar troubles. How hard is it to pronounce Catrin and Nia? My parent’s thought our names were easy enough.
My sister Nia is having a baby in June and I am glad she is continuing the tradition of unique names. Llewella Grey, you are going to have to explain your name to people but your name will always be remembered.
Sorry for my little rant but I just don’t see why people can’t pronounce my name. I love my name. I love that it is unique and I thank my parents for that. So even though I have to constantly tell people how to say my name I wouldn’t change anything.
