What is "tadhg"

Tadhg or Tadgh (, or ), is an Irish and Scottish Gaelic boy's name that was very common when the Gaelic languages predominated, to the extent that it is a synecdoche for Irish Gaelic man. The name signifies "poet" or "philosopher". This was also the name of many Gaelic Irish kings from the 10th to the 16th centuries, particularly in Connacht and Munster. Tadhg is most common in south-west Ireland, particularly in County Cork and County Kerry.

The name has enjoyed a surge in popularity recently, becoming the 40th most common name for baby boys in 2010 according to the Central Statistics Office in Ireland, up from 69th place in 2005. Since the early modern period, in the guise of the strawman "Taig" the name has featured in sectarian propaganda contexts as a symbol of "the Other" for British descended Protestants.