- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “fair; comely; beautiful; handsome.”
- Gender: Male
- Pron: TEH-gid
The name is likely derived from the Welsh word, teg, meaning (fair; comely; beautiful; handsome). It has also been suggested to be a Welsh form of the Latin male name, Tacitus (quiet, serene).
Tegid Foel—whose epithet Foel means “bald” in Welsh—is a shadowy but evocative figure in Welsh mythology. He is remembered as the husband of the enchantress Ceridwen and the father of Creirwy and Morfran (Afagddu), the family whose story frames the birth of the poet-prophet Taliesin.
His name is inseparable from Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), the largest natural lake in Wales. Local lore long treated the lake as a living presence, and many scholars think Tegid may once have been its protective spirit or ancestral deity. It is believed his court is within the shadowy depths of Bala Lake. The same lake is also said to have a large Loch Ness like sea-monster living in it, named Teggie.
In 2024, 5 babies were given this as a name in the U.K.
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