Sidney

Sidney: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“wide island”
Origin
English
Say it
SID-nee · 2 syllables
Used for
Both (23% girls, 77% boys since 1880)

From an English surname and place name, from Old English elements meaning wide and island or riverside meadow. Sidney has been used for both males and females in English.

How popular is Sidney?

202476.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Sidney in 2024254

2024 rank#1,368 boys

Peak year1912

Total US babies since 1880108,736

Sidney is fading: recent use is about 57% of its level ten years before.

Names like Sidney

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Averyruler of elves · English
  • Riverriver · English
  • Sawyerwoodcutter · English
  • TatumTata's homestead · English
  • EmersonEmery's son · English
  • Haydenhay valley · English
  • Sagewise one; sage plant · English
  • Remingtonsettlement by the streambank · English

Sidney questions

What does the name Sidney mean?

Sidney means "wide island". It comes from English. From an English surname and place name, from Old English elements meaning wide and island or riverside meadow. Sidney has been used for both males and females in English.

Is Sidney a boy or girl name?

Sidney is used for both: about 23% of US babies named Sidney since 1880 were girls.

How popular is Sidney?

254 US babies were named Sidney in 2024. Its peak year was 1912.

How do you pronounce Sidney?

Sidney is usually pronounced SID-nee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.