Tynan (The Name)
Now that I’m #1 on Google for my name, I’ve been getting more people to the site searching for that. Many of them share my name, which is awesome.
My parents chose the name out of a name book randomly. They wanted me to have a name that had no previous associations with anyone else. It’s Irish, although I’m not Irish at all.
The dark side of having a unique name is that I missed out on a whole side of consumerism. I never had a little license plate or keychain with my name on it. Those were reserved for people with more common names.
One day in third grade a girl named Morgan Peck came into school carrying a thick book. I asked her about it and she told me that it was a name book. It had the meanings of everyone’s name. She showed me her name, which meant “Horse Princess” or something like that. We looked for my name, but I wasn’t hopeful. It was never included in those sorts of things.
This time it was. Tynan (Gaelic) : The Dark One.
Whoa. Either I’m evil or meant to rap. Who knows? I couldn’t believe my good fortune getting such a badass name. Who would possibly name their kid that? I assumed my parents had no idea what it meant, but I later found out that they did know and interpreted it as meaning “mysterious”.
The first time I encountered another Tynan was when I was a professional gambler. I got a reply back from a casino that said :
Before I answer your question, I have to let you know that my son’s name is Tynan. He thinks it’s the best name ever and has never met another Tynan before. Anyway, your withdrawal was processed…
I’ve still never met another Tynan in person, but a bunch of them have found my site, which is pretty awesome. Some day when I’m rich I will fly them all to Hawaii and we’ll have a Tynan party.












March 7th, 2007 at 4:06 am
I can relate to not having ‘Magnus’ key-rings and stickers and mugs and things.
Then when I was 9 we went on holiday to Denmark, where Magnus is a much more common name, and they had everything! I still have some of those stickers left, because I didn’t want to run out, I hoarded them.
Magnus means great
March 7th, 2007 at 9:41 am
I know how you guys feel without having the whole key ring thing. I think Daryl is a fairly common name, but they never have it. My brother always had his, which made it all the worse.
Anyways, my middle name is Seiichi, which means “holy one.” Looks like you were destined to be my arch-enemy Tynan the “dark one” ! Actually, you should probably be on the lookout for a “Lucius,” which means bringer of light.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
My name is Laya, and I hear you. Technically my name should be “L-e-a-h” but my mom didn’t want people to call me “Lee-ah” so she changed the spelling. Unfortunately people still call me Leah, and Layla, and Layra and Layer. It’s to the point that when giving my name - say, when I order food for carry out - I automatically spell my name in an attempt to avoid confusion. That rarely actually works.
I’ve met many Leah’s and a Leigha once, but I’ve only encountered one other Laya - a customer on the phone when I used to work on a Help Desk.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I think missing out on the consumerism is just fine when you think about the first time you meet someone and you tell them your name, and the reaction they have. My mum picked Tynan the same way that your parents did.to think i was gonna be called todd… I have read a few different definations for our name: dark or grey castle, dark warrior and what you said.
I was living with a couple guys that were in Canada doing a working vacation from Ireland, and they told me that it’s pronounced tiernan in gaelic. They also mentioned that he was a mythical warrior or something of the sort. I was actually trying to find out more info about this after a girl on the bus started up a convo and took a fancy to my name, and that is how i stumbled across this site.
Tynan
March 7th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
You’re only number 2 here in Germany
March 8th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Donovan means “dark/odd warrior”.
I enjoy stupid questions such as “Did your parents name you after Donovan Mcnab?” (i’m in my 20’s, he’s in his 30’s)
“How doy you spell that?” “D-o n-o v-a-n” and then manage to put an E in it”"can I call you Donnie?” “May I call turd face?”
March 8th, 2007 at 7:39 am
only number two in the uk too. http://www.tynan.com/au gets the number one spot
March 8th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Only number four in the Milky Way, but hey, that’s in the whole galaxy.
(If there were a galaxy-wide internet, it would still take 4.3 years to get an update from a our closest star, Alpha Centauri.)
March 11th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Dude - my name’s Tynan. I thought it just meant “Dark”, although “The Dark One” sounds even cooler.
My last name means “man of the woods” so I guess I’m “The dark man of the woods”. Oooooh….. creepy!
That name led me to this site and gave me the opportunity to become the PUA I am. Strange how my parents’ and your parents’ weird way of choosing names is getting me laid.
And dude… I’m totally stoked on the Tynan party. We can go out sarging together in Honolulu. Rock on! And since it’ll be a little while before you’re THAT rich, I should have time to polish my PUA skills to a high shine.
Btw you’re still #2 on Google behind Tynan Motors for me. I’m in Canada.
March 12th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Putting all my names together I am the just, worthy of praise man of the mountain who apparently lives in or near a stream.
*scratches haed*
Yeah I dont get it either.
March 16th, 2007 at 3:17 am
Try having a name like Annie-Rose. That sucks ass.
I never had anything wih my name on it.
Not even Annie is on stuff.
Those bastards.
March 18th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Testing…
March 19th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Tynan Party !!!!
March 20th, 2007 at 9:37 am
I also have an unusual name. I chose to go by this middle name. I saw you this weekend and got star-struck. Maybe it was just your hat. I was at Casa de Luz meeting my best friends to celebrate my 26th birthday, and there you are. I saw my favorite celebrity here in Austin this weekend for SXSW (Wayne Cohen of the Flaming Lips); I was also starstruck when I saw him. Who would of thought that seeing a blogstar would have the same effect. Thank you for sharing your stories.
March 20th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
You should have come and said hi! Actually, I bet I know who you are… I noticed someone looking over at me a bunch of times during brunch.
Tynan
March 21st, 2007 at 5:15 pm
^Haha, that is cute. Tynan, maybe you look unapproachable?
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I would have totally said hi, but you left before we even paid. We had just walked in the door. My roommate thought you were a dj for SXSW.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
oh, and i was like…”no, that’s the guy that’s better than your boyfriend.”
July 4th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I know what you mean, they always have merchandise for Casey but never Kacey. Everyone always spells it wrong or trys to say I have a girl’s name. I’ve never met another Kacey in person but the internet does help in meeting others with my name.
August 26th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Hi Tynan,
I have a 10 month old son and his name is Tynan also, it makes me wonder just how many Tynans there are in the world…….
October 8th, 2007 at 6:39 am
hi tynan im seamus tynan from laois ireland this is where the tynan name came from tynan does mean the dark ones.tynan clan came from south laois.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:46 am
tynan’s were the south rulers of laois ireland o’tierharn is gaelic irish for tynan
October 29th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Thats mad seamus my father and grandfather were from laois my grandfather (joe tynan) then moved down here to co cork and populated east cork big time (haha)theirs loads of us.The dark ones i like it.
December 11th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
I am very proud of the Tynan name, My ancestor’s are from the central part of Ireland and the Tynan name is as common as Smith is in the United States. Please do not poke fun at it. I have never met anyone in the U.S. that had the same name, that was not related to me. There is a big car dealership in the Denver, Colorado area that has the name, but I have never met them. Maybe, they are related. I heard in Ireland, that the name may be related to having dark hair, We all have dark hair in my family???
June 13th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
In my family it is commonly acknowledged that our name got changed as we were coming into America through ellis island. Despite spelling it with an “ion” we still all pronounce it with an “an”. We suspect two groups of Tynans came into the country at the same time, and we were the ones that got a little screwed over.
In a way its even better, because there really are no Tynions that aren’t directly related to me. I suspect I’m related to all the Tynans as well, just much more distantly.
July 5th, 2008 at 8:36 am
my name’s tynan and i’m irish but was the surname tynan orginally french??
July 17th, 2008 at 7:12 am
I got my name the same i think. Picked out of a names book. It is pretty awesome having a unique name except that it is really hard to say Tynan in a club. Noone seems to be able to hear the name propersly. i get called Tyron, Tyson, Tim, Bill1 WTF! But wicked to see there could be a Tynan Party in Hawaii cause all keen for that!!!!!
Tynan
August 10th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
well Tynan, im jj from laois, i live not far from where our name originates, most searches ive done have said that we were dark/grey and mysterious, us tynans are not to be messed wit!!! anyway laois is a haven 4 tynans, so thats gonna be some party in hawai, jj tynan.