Tighe

This name is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic O Taidhg. The Gaelic prefix 'O' indicates 'grandson' or 'male descendant of', plus the personal byname Tadhg meaning poet, bard or philosopher. There were four distinct septs of O Taidhg in Ireland, but from an early date the name became indistinguishable from MacTaidhg or MacTeague, the 'mac' prefix meaning 'son of'. Some branches of this family are said to be descended from Tadhg, brother of Connor O' Connor, King of Connacht, who died in 973. Others still, claim descent from a son of Cathair Mor, King of Ireland in A.D. 119! One, Donal (Mac) Teague was Archbishop of Armagh from 1560 to 1562. On May 16th 1694 Stephen Tighe, an infant, was christened in St. Michan's Church, Dublin, and on January 2nd 1753 Ann, daughter of Barnabas Tighe, was christened in St. Michael the Archangel, Dublin. Michael Tighe, of Sligo was a famine immigrant into New York on January 5th 1847. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Muircheatach MacTaidhg, which was dated 1159, 'Manx Names' by A. W. Moore, during the reign of King Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, 1134 - 1171. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.