Name of the Week: Sidney

 

Origin:

Sidney derives from the English surname Sidney / Sydney made up of the Old English elements sīd "broad" and īeg "island." To the Anglo-Saxon,s it would have been understood with the meaning "dweller by the wide well-watered land."  Traditionally, Sidney was though to have derived from Saint-Denis in Normandy, but the evidence for this is lacking. The only examples that suggest this link is a Roger de Sancto Dionisio in the 1212 Norfolk Book of Fees, and a John Seydenys in the 14th century, but this is not enough to suggest that this became the surname Sidney, or that either men passed their name on.  Sidney was also used as a variant of Sidony, an anglicised form of Sidonia. Sidonius and Sidonia were Latin names derived from Sidon, the name of an ancient Greek city in Phoenicia. Saint Sidonius Apollinaris (d.489) was a Gallo-Roman aristocrat, poet, author and bishop of Clermont. Sidonia of Brittany was also the heroine of the medieval prose romance Pontus and Sidonia, first composed in the 14th century.  In the 16th century, Sidonia became associated with the Late Latin word sindon "fine cloth, linen" which, in the 16th century, was used to refer to the Turin Shroud. The name Sindonia was coined around the time when the Feast of the Winding Sheet on April 25th was established, and it was not uncommon for girls born around that date to be given the name.  Eventually, Sidonia and Sindonia became interchangeable, such as with "Sidonia or Sindonia Wilden" recorded in 1793 in Shropshire. English forms included Sindony, Sidony, Sindenay, Syndony, Sidney and Sydney.

Usage:

The surname Sidney has been in use since at least the 14th century and was adopted as a given name in the 17th century.  Some of its use may have been influences by the notable Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) who was considered the epitome of the English gentleman-soldier and a prominent figure of the Elizabethan age.* Sir Philip's great-nephew Algernon Sidney (1623-1683) was a notable parliamentarian and political philosopher who may also have had influence on the use of the surname as a first name.  In 1761, Frances Sheridan's hugely popular novel The Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph was published. The main female character, (Catharine) Sidney Biulph, endures hardships in this moral romantic tale in her efforts to remain virtuous and live according to the period's codes of moral conduct.  It could be that the character's name is a form of Sidony, however, in the novel, Sidney grew up at Sidney Castle, her mother's dower house, so likely the character was intended to have been named from a family surname. The author, Frances Sheridan, may perhaps have had Sir Philip Sidney's romance Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia in mind as inspiration for the character's name.  In 1783, Thomas Townshend was created Baron Sydney when he entered the House of Lords, and later that year became the Home Secretary. In 1789, he was further created 1st Viscount Sydney. Townshend was related to Algernon Sidney (above) and it is said that he originally proposed his title to be Baron Sidney in honour of his relative, but changed the spelling in case other members of the family had claims on it.* As Home Secretary, Townshend was involved in the development of colonies in Canada and Australia. The cities of Sydney in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Sydney in New South Wales, Australia were named in his honour, in 1785 and 1788, respectively. Both Sidney and Sydney became more common at the end of the 18th century, though most of its usage was in England, seeing far less use in Scotland and Wales. By 1860, both spellings were in the top 100 in England and Wales:    Sidney Sydney 1840: 1850:  1860:  1870:  1880:  1890: 1900: 1904: 1914: 1924: 1934: 1944: #80 #58 #45 #33 #28 #27 #27 #27 #31 #45 #69 #99 #107 #104 #72 #48 #31 #32 #35 #36 #37 #59 #90 --- According to the combined spellings of 1840, Sidney/Sidney moved up from #80 and #107 respectively to #66 when combined. At the name's peak, both spellings ranked at the approximate rank of #21 in both 1890 and 1900 when combined.  By the 1950s, both spellings of the name were in decline for boys. By the 1990s, however, Sydney (this spelling in particular) began to see increased usage for girls.  click to enlarge From 1996 to 2008, Sydney for girls was the most popular use of the name, rising to a peak of #211 (223 births) in 2003. It has since seen a modest decline. Sidney for boys began to rise steadily after 2001, finally overtaking Sydney for girls in 2010.  Sydney for boys, on the other hand, has remained fairly consistent in use, ranking no higher than #748 (39 births) in 2009.  In 2017 in England and Wales – in order of precedence –Sidney ranked #242 with 223 births; Sydney ranked #396 with 111 births; Sydney ranked #1042 with 28 births and Sidney ranked #3229 with 7 births.  In Scotland – as it has been historically – Sidney and Sydney are far rarer. For boys neither spelling has been given to more than two boys in any given year since 1978. For girls, it has been marginally more successful in recent decades, but can only boast a peak at #361 with 9 births in 2006 for the spelling Sydney.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Sydney Parkinson (1745–1771), Scottish illustrator. * Sydney Smirke (1798–1877), English architect. * Sydney Smith (1771–1845), English writer. * Admiral Sir Sydney Dacres (1805–1884), English admiral. * Sidney Lanier (1842–1881), American musician, poet and author. * Sidney Lee (1859–1926), English biographer, writer and critic. * Sidney Homer (1864–1953), American composer. * Sydney Barnes (1873–1967), English cricketer. * Sidney "Sid" Hadden (1877–1934), English cricketer. * Sidney Myer (1878–1934), Australian businessman and philanthropist. * Sir Sidney Solomon "Solly" Abrahams (1885–1957), British Olympic long jumper and 26th Chief Justice of Ceylon. * Sydney Chaplin (1885–1965), English actor. * Sydney Horler (1888–1954), British novelist. * Sydney Camm (1893–1966), English aeronautical engineer. * Sidney Bechet (1897–1959), American jazz saxophonist. * Sidney Bernstein, Baron Bernstein (1899–1993), British media baron. * Sidney "Sid" Field (1904–1950), English comedy entertainer. * Sidney Meyers (1906–1969), American film director. * Sidney "Sid" Gillman (1911–2003), American football player and coach. * Sidney Carroll (1913–1988), American film and television scriptwriter.. * Sidney "Sid" James (1913–1976), South African-born English film and television actor. * Sidney Sheldon (1917–2007), American writer and producer. * Sydney Earle Chaplin (1926–2009), American actor. Contemporary: * Sidney Poitier (born 1927), American actor. * Sidney Duteil (born 1955), French musician and television and radio host. * Sidney Moncrief (born 1957), American basketball player. * Sidney Govou (born 1979), French football player. * Sidney Moraes (born 1977), Brazilian footballer. * Sidney "Sid" Wilson (born 1977), American DJ, keyboardist and pianist. * Sidney Crosby (born 1987), Canadian ice hockey player. * Sidney Jones (born 1995), American football player. Literature and Other Media: * Sydney Carton, a central character in Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859). * Sidney "Sid", a ground sloth in the Ice Age film series. * Sidney Jenkins, a character in the British teenage drama Skins. * Sidney Prescott, the main (female) character from the Scream horror trilogy.

Variants:

Sydney

Pronunciation:

SID-nee [key]

Possible diminutives:

Sid

Sibling Names:

Nina     Constance     Primrose     Josephine     Olive     Lois  Eric     Barnaby     Chester     Wilfred     Vincent     Otis

Name Lists:

Victorian Darlings  Roaring Twenties Names   Vintage Names  Resurrected Retro  Jane Austen Names  Dickensian Names

 

If you like Sidney you may also like:   Frank, Robin, Leonard, Stanley, Philip, Edwin, Percy, Victor, Monty, Ernest

Thanks to Jennifer for requesting this name.