Origin of Keig

This very interesting surname with many spellings can be either Manx, Irish or Cornish, and perhaps can best be described as Olde Gaelic. The spelling forms include O Tighe, O Teague, and MacTeague, MacTighe, and MacTague, and the short versions commening "Mc", or without any suffix at all, as in Keig, Kegg, Teige, Tighe, Tegue, Tague, Teague and Teagge. The confusion arises because although Cornish names have never had prefixes, Manx and Irish names may have, but not necessarily, and also many Irish nameholders have Manx, English, or Cornish ancestry, and the reverse, making the precise origin for individual surname holders impossible to assess with any precision.

What can be said it that the Manx and Irish surname is probably from the original pre 10th century Gaelic Taidhe, meaning "The descendant of Taidgh", the latter being an early personal name, whilst the Cornish-English name derives from the pre 7th cenury "tek" meaning a flower. Amongst the early name holders of interest was Donal MacTeague, also recorded as Donal Teague, the Archbishop of Armagh from 1560 to 1562, Thomas Keig of Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1684, and Catherine McTague, who emigrated to New York on the ship "Louisiana of Liverpool" on April 8th 1847, to escape the Potato Famine of that year. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Muircheartach Mac Taidhg, which was dated 1159, in the Manx Names Register, during the reign of the High Kings of Ireland, 1022 - 1166. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.