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Taig, and (primarily formerly) also Teague, are of the Irish-language male given name Tadhg, used as for a . Taig in Northern Ireland and the west of Scotland is most commonly used as a derogatory term by Ulster loyalism to refer to Catholics.
Tadhg was once so common as an Irish name that it became synonymous with the typical person, with phrases like Tadhg an mhargaidh ("Tadhg of the market") akin to "the man on the Clapham omnibus" or "average Joe". In the late 1680s, the satire Williamite ballad Lillibullero includes the line: "Ho brother Taig hast thou heard the decree?" Conversely, the Irish-language name is used defiantly in a Jacobitism poem written in the 1690s: "Who goes there" does not provoke fear / "I am Tadhg" is the answer given. Céad buidhe re Dia ("A hundred thanks to God") by Diarmaid Mac Cárthaigh In 1698, John Dunton wrote a mocking account of Ireland, titled Teague Land – or A Ramble with the Wild Irish.
Although the term has rarely been used in North America, a notable example of such use was when future Founding Father and lawyer John Adams successfully defended the soldiers responsible for the 1770 Boston Massacre by pleading to the jury that they were being attacked by:
... most probably a motley rabble of saucy boys, and mulatto, Irish Teagues and outlandish Jack Tar. —And why we should scruple to call such a set of people a mob, I can't conceive, unless the name is too respectable for them? "Summation of John Adams" in Rex v. Wemms. umkc.edu. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
In the context of segregation in Northern Ireland and sectarianism in Glasgow, the term "Taig" is used as a derogatory term for a Roman Catholic, used by Northern Ireland Protestants and Ulster loyalism. In this sense, it is used in a similar way to the word Fenian, but is more ethnic in terms of abuse against people of Gaelic descent than "Fenian", which more commonly signifies Irish republican. Extremist loyalists have also used slogans such as "Kill All Taigs" (KAT) and "All Taigs Are Targets" in graffiti.
In Scotland, "Tim" is sometimes used as an alternative to "Taig" ("Tadhg" is usually translated as "Timothy" and shortened to "Tim" in English).
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