Sidney
2025 SSA
2025 SSA
About Sidney
A contraction name, Sidney comes from Saint Denis and is related to Dioynsius, the Greek god of fertility and wine, although another theory is that it derived from an Anglo-Saxon place name, meaning 'at the wide island.'
Sidney for boys#1327 US
Sidney is an aristocratic British surname--as in the Elizabethan poet George Sidney-- and later attained a further measure of distinction through its association with the self-sacrificing hero of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Sidney Carton, and with Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier.
In the US, Sidney was most popular in the 19-teens, when it was in the Top 100 for that decade, but has gradually declined, especially after the girl's name Sydney burst into popularity in the 1990's.
Sidney for girls#1878 US
While Sidney in this spelling has a long history as a girls' name, it fell off the Top 1000 from the early 50s until 1990. Then it reemerged as one of the newly chic androgynous names for girls, rising into the Top 300 before falling off the Top 1000 list again in 2016. Sydney is now the more fashionable form.
Pronounced SID-nee.
As of October 2026, Sidney ranked #1327 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #80 in 1912, Nameberry popularity #640.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank · boys | Births · boys | US rank · girls | Births · girls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #1,141 | 167 | #916 | 295 |
| 2015 | #1,088 | 180 | #1,002 | 270 |
| 2016 | #1,026 | 196 | #1,020 | 260 |
| 2017 | #1,102 | 177 | #1,122 | 225 |
| 2018 | #1,149 | 168 | #1,139 | 215 |
| 2019 | #1,116 | 176 | #1,289 | 179 |
| 2020 | #1,164 | 166 | #1,514 | 141 |
| 2021 | #1,393 | 132 | #1,349 | 164 |
| 2022 | #1,203 | 166 | #1,393 | 165 |
| 2023 | #1,232 | 160 | #1,633 | 128 |
| 2024 | #1,374 | 137 | #1,734 | 117 |
| 2025 | #1,327 | 146 | #1,878 | 105 |
World rankings
Sidney for boys
Sidney for girls
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Sidney on lists
Famous Sidneys
- Sidney Arthur LumetBoy
American film director
- Sidney PoitierBoy
American actor
- Sidney SheldonBoy
American TV writer and novelist
- Sidney ColemanBoy
American theoretical physicist
- Sidney BechetBoy
American jazz saxophonist
- Sidney James WebbBoy
1st Baron Passfield, former British secretary of state
- Sidney Robert NolanBoy
Australian painter
- Sidney AltmanBoy
Canadian,American molecular biologist and Nobel Prize winner
- Sidney Patrick CrosbyBoy
Canadian ice hockey player
- Sidney Selby IIIBoy
known as Desiigner, American rapper
- Sidney Robyn Danae BushGirl
American actress; twin sister Lindsay Bush
- Sidney SartiniGirl
American singer from band Bahari
- Sidney Aoibheann McCauley (b. 2015)Girl
daughter of American singer,songwriter Vanessa Carlton
Sidney in pop culture
- Sidney ChambersBoy
protagonist in James Runcie's "Grantchester" novels and PBS' Mystery series "Grantchester"
- Sidney MussburgerBoy
character in "The Hudsucker Proxy"
- Sidney GlassBoy
character on TV's "Once Upon a Time"
- Sidney "Sid" JenkinsBoy
character on British TV series "Skins"
- Sidney FreedmanBoy
psychiatrist on the TV series M*A*S*H
- Sidney FalcoBoy
lead character in the 1957 film "Sweet Smell of Success"
- Sidney BloomGirl
from movie "The Pregnancy Pact" played by Thora Birch
- Sidney PrescottGirl
main protagonist of the "Scream" franchise