Tyquan

The earliest known instance of this name can presently be traced back to the mid sixties in California. It seems to have gradually risen in popularity throughout the seventies and into the early eighties before reaching the peak of its popularity by the late eighties or early nineties. One cannot help but notice the affinity between this name and "Taekwondo". It is probably no coincidence that the name appears to have originated shortly after the introduction of this style of martial arts in the United States. The popularity of the name likely mirrored rising popularity of the sport, peaking in the late eighties, when it became one of two martial arts included within the Olympic Games. Early spelling variants of the name, like "Taequan" and "Tykwan", seem to further this theory due to their resemblance to the name of the martial art.

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This would in turn mean that the etymological origin of the name Tyquan is Korean. The phonetic element "ty" in this case deriving from (태) "tae" or "kick" and the second element "quan" deriving from (권) "kwon" or "fist". In Korean, tae (태) means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon (권) means "to strike or break with fist".

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The combination of "tae" and "kwon" has alternatively been suggested to mean "to put fists under control" or "to step on fists" within martial arts circles in America.