we chose our baby girl's name, but how should we spell it?

boogily · January 2012

We are naming our baby Tegan Lily (Tegan is prounounced like Regan)

Not sure how to spell it. I know its common to pronounce it tEEgan so to avoid that we'd either keep spelled as the regular spelling or spell it differently

we're contemplating

1) Tegan

2) Teigan

3) Teagan

Which spelling do you think makes the most sense? DH prefers #1 if we decide to stick with that, do you think it'd be mispronounced?

Thank you in advance!

Jessica1977 · January 2012

I'm sure that this isn't what you want to hear but as soon as I see Tegan - regardless of any of your spelling options I think Tee-gan. FWIW, I love the name Regan and never want to mispronounce it...

Good luck and congrats on the baby girl!

526SadieSadie · January 2012

You're going to have to be more specific - Tegan like Regan doesn't tell me anything, there are still two ways to say that.

Tee-gan

Tay-gan (rhymes with Ronald Reagan)

or other.

Which one are you going for?

pacsunqtaz · January 2012

526SadieSadie:
You're going to have to be more specific - Tegan like Regan doesn't tell me anything, there are still two ways to say that.

Tee-gan

Tay-gan (rhymes with Ronald Reagan)

or other.

Which one are you going for?

I always thought that Regan was pronounced exactly like Tegan, that is to say Ree-gan.

I thought if people wanted a girl's name that sounds like Reagan they'd spell it that way...

EastCoastBride · January 2012

pacsunqtaz:
526SadieSadie:

You're going to have to be more specific - Tegan like Regan doesn't tell me anything, there are still two ways to say that.

Tee-gan

Tay-gan (rhymes with Ronald Reagan)

or other.

Which one are you going for?

I always thought that Regan was pronounced exactly like Tegan, that is to say Ree-gan.

I thought if people wanted a girl's name that sounds like Reagan they'd spell it that way...

I always see Regan pronounced as Ronald Regan.

And Iv'e only ever heard Tegan/Teagan pronounced as TEE-gan.

So.... I don't know how much the spelling is going to help you! People are going to mispronounce it until corrected.

526SadieSadie · January 2012

pacsunqtaz:
526SadieSadie:

You're going to have to be more specific - Tegan like Regan doesn't tell me anything, there are still two ways to say that.

Tee-gan

Tay-gan (rhymes with Ronald Reagan)

or other.

Which one are you going for?

I always thought that Regan was pronounced exactly like Tegan, that is to say Ree-gan.

I thought if people wanted a girl's name that sounds like Reagan they'd spell it that way...

What you said makes complete sense but I've read it all sorts of ways on this board. The 'a' doesn't mean anything sometimes.

boogily · January 2012

Yeah it sounds like Regan as in Ronald Regan. I know an 8 year old with this name with the prounciation we like they spell it Tegan and are often telling people how its pronounced. I think we'll stick with Tegan

Thanks!

pacsunqtaz · January 2012

526SadieSadie:
pacsunqtaz:
526SadieSadie:

You're going to have to be more specific - Tegan like Regan doesn't tell me anything, there are still two ways to say that.

Tee-gan

Tay-gan (rhymes with Ronald Reagan)

or other.

Which one are you going for?

I always thought that Regan was pronounced exactly like Tegan, that is to say Ree-gan.

I thought if people wanted a girl's name that sounds like Reagan they'd spell it that way...

What you said makes complete sense but I've read it all sorts of ways on this board. The 'a' doesn't mean anything sometimes.

Hmm true. Irks me when people butcher a good name. I'm fairly certain the ree-gan pronunciation was around long before Reagan made it a trendy alternative pronunciation. I mean look at King Lear- his ungrateful daughters were Goneril, Regan (ree-gan) and Cordelia. If anyone had asked Shakespeare "So is that pronounced Ray-gan?" he probably would have punched them in the face.

boogily · January 2012

I just think it sounds better that way and honestly thought that's how it was pronounced. Anytime that I heard people say tEE-gan it sounded wrong to me. I now understand that there are two ways to pronounce it.

MelodyKate · January 2012

If you want a spelling that reflects pronunciation, I would suggest something along the lines of Taygan, Taygen, Taygin, Taigen, Taigan, Taigyn, and Taigin, but those all make my head hurt. I think all of your options look like Tee-gan, but the one that most suggests your pronunciation is Teigan. If you don't care about correcting pronunciation and want to use the original spelling no matter what, use Tegan and accept that you (and your daughter) will be correcting people often.

EastCoastBride · January 2012

Joy2611:

Regan = rhymes with megan to me Reg-an.

Reagan = Ronald Reagan, Ray-gan

These are the same to me!!

boogily · January 2012

Joy2611:
This thread is hurting my head because I pronounce Regan and Reagan differently. I'm weird.
Regan = rhymes with megan to me Reg-an.
Reagan = Ronald Reagan, Ray-gan

Good luck, OP! I think you're just going to have to correct people.

Thanks, yeah its starting to hurt mine too!

boogily · January 2012

Joy2611:
This thread is hurting my head because I pronounce Regan and Reagan differently. I'm weird.
Regan = rhymes with megan to me Reg-an.
Reagan = Ronald Reagan, Ray-gan

Good luck, OP! I think you're just going to have to correct people.

Thanks, yeah its starting to hurt mine too!

boogily · January 2012

MelodyKate:
If you want a spelling that reflects pronunciation, I would suggest something along the lines of Taygan, Taygen, Taygin, Taigen, Taigan, Taigyn, and Taigin, but those all make my head hurt. I think all of your options look like Tee-gan, but the one that most suggests your pronunciation is Teigan. If you don't care about correcting pronunciation and want to use the original spelling no matter what, use Tegan and accept that you (and your daughter) will be correcting people often.

Thanks, I am going to print all them out and see what grabs me. I agree, I think out of my orignal 3, Teagan would be less likely to be "mispronounced" I also read online that Teagan is the original welsh way to spell it.

brooklynesque · January 2012

boogily:
MelodyKate:
If you want a spelling that reflects pronunciation, I would suggest something along the lines of Taygan, Taygen, Taygin, Taigen, Taigan, Taigyn, and Taigin, but those all make my head hurt. I think all of your options look like Tee-gan, but the one that most suggests your pronunciation is Teigan. If you don't care about correcting pronunciation and want to use the original spelling no matter what, use Tegan and accept that you (and your daughter) will be correcting people often.
Thanks, I am going to print all them out and see what grabs me. I agree, I think out of my orignal 3, Teagan would be less likely to be "mispronounced" I also read online that Teagan is the original welsh way to spell it.

Just know people will mispronounce it. Because the correct pronunciation of Teagan is TEE-gan, at least in my experience. Then again, the "correct" pronunciation of Tegan would probably be TEE-gan also. Though I hate made-up names, since you're basically making up a name you might want to spell it Teghan, which people MIGHT pronounce "right" in analogy to Meghan.

kelnyc · January 2012

brooklynesque:
boogily:
MelodyKate:

If you want a spelling that reflects pronunciation, I would suggest something along the lines of Taygan, Taygen, Taygin, Taigen, Taigan, Taigyn, and Taigin, but those all make my head hurt. I think all of your options look like Tee-gan, but the one that most suggests your pronunciation is Teigan. If you don't care about correcting pronunciation and want to use the original spelling no matter what, use Tegan and accept that you (and your daughter) will be correcting people often.

Thanks, I am going to print all them out and see what grabs me. I agree, I think out of my orignal 3, Teagan would be less likely to be "mispronounced" I also read online that Teagan is the original welsh way to spell it.

Just know people will mispronounce it. Because the correct pronunciation of Teagan is TEE-gan, at least in my experience. Then again, the "correct" pronunciation of Tegan would probably be TEE-gan also. Though I hate made-up names, since you're basically making up a name you might want to spell it Teghan, which people MIGHT pronounce "right" in analogy to Meghan.

This was going to be my advice. Practically every other way listed in this thread gets you to Tee-gan.

dionnemd10 · January 2012

my friends have a reegan and spell it with two "e's" so people know it is ree-gan--so i say go with teegan if you want, but i would also pronounce tegan as tee-gan.

good luck!

mamahawk12 · January 2012

Wolfette139:
My name is Meagan (pronounced May-gan)
I would go with #1

Heeyyy another Meagan (May-gan!!) woop! Glad to know you exist

Go with Tegan and just correct people. It's your best bet.

sunnyday016 · January 2012

I'm super confused.

I'd say both with the EE sound. TEE-gan. REE-gan.

If you want TAY-gan, I'd go with Tagan? I guess?

janneann1127 · January 2012

MelodyKate:
If you want a spelling that reflects pronunciation, I would suggest something along the lines of Taygan, Taygen, Taygin, Taigen, Taigan, Taigyn, and Taigin, but those all make my head hurt. I think all of your options look like Tee-gan, but the one that most suggests your pronunciation is Teigan. If you don't care about correcting pronunciation and want to use the original spelling no matter what, use Tegan and accept that you (and your daughter) will be correcting people often.

All of this. I've never heard it pronounced any other way but TEE-gan. You're going to be correcting people (and so will your daughter) all the time. Maybe if you spell if more like Taygan, it will be less confusing?

mintea · January 2012

This is making my head hurt as well because there is no president named Ronald Regan - it was Ronald Reagan and it's pronounced "ray-guhn." I think all the spelling for Tegan make me want to say "tee-guhn" but I know a lot of people who go by "tay-ghun" with the same spelling. I think it's just a case of needing to tell people which you use and hopefully they learn it.