Sidney
Sidney was the 1327th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 146 babies. Its best year was 1912, when it ranked 80th; the most babies were born in 1918 (1,879). Over the last ten years it has moved down 239 places. More babies were named Sidney in the 1920s than in any other decade.
Meaning wide island (place name) · English, Old English
Say it SID-nee /ˈsɪdni/
- Rank in 2025
- #1,327 boys, down 163 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 146boys
- Girls and boys
- 48% girls, 52% boys2021–2025
- Peak year
- 19181,879 babies
- Total since 1880
- 108,987babies recorded
What does the name Sidney mean?
Sidney is an English surname from a place in Surrey, Old English Sīdaneg, from sīd 'wide' and ēg 'island, dry land in a marsh', as Wiktionary notes. A popular story derives it from Saint-Denis in France, but that is not supported. The Sidney family, including the poet Sir Philip Sidney, made it famous, and it became a given name for both boys and girls.
sīd (Old English, “wide”)ēg (Old English, “island”)
How sure is this? Well established.
Other explanations you may read: From Saint-Denis.
See also: English names, names that mean meadow, hill or valley, names from places.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Sidney', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
Nicknames for Sidney
The usual nicknames for Sidney are Sid. Some parents skip the long form: for every 100 boys named Sidney in the last five years, 11 were named Sid, against 5 twenty years earlier.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Boys, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sid | Traditional | #10,522 | 80 |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are boys given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Sidneys go by each one.
Sidney popularity since 1880
| Year | Rank (girls) | Rank (boys) | Babies (girls) | Babies (boys) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #1,878 | #1,327 | 105 | 146 |
| 2020 | #1,515 | #1,164 | 141 | 166 |
| 2010 | #670 | #828 | 432 | 259 |
| 2000 | #265 | #595 | 1,221 | 333 |
| 1990 | #923 | #514 | 207 | 369 |
| 1980 | #3,058 | #440 | 29 | 353 |
| 1970 | #2,112 | #361 | 39 | 509 |
| 1960 | #1,137 | #275 | 92 | 848 |
| 1950 | #1,038 | #195 | 78 | 1,076 |
| 1940 | #833 | #169 | 74 | 926 |
| 1930 | #1,071 | #150 | 48 | 1,076 |
| 1920 | #1,016 | #107 | 54 | 1,610 |
| 1910 | #1,260 | #93 | 14 | 353 |
| 1900 | #777 | #108 | 23 | 218 |
| 1890 | #722 | #100 | 15 | 176 |
| 1880 | #433 | #96 | 16 | 142 |
How popular is Sidney, counting every spelling?
Sidney has no other common spelling that sounds the same. Counting every name's spellings together, it ranks #1,255 for boys in 2025, against #1,327 on the official list.
How many kids will share the name Sidney?
146 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Sidney (0.04 per 1,000 births). For a boy named Sidney born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 57 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Sidney.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Sidney?
About 32,900 people born in the US named Sidney are alive today, with a median age of 58; half are between 34 and 72. That makes Sidney a name most people associate with older generations. The wide spread shows a name popular in two different eras.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Sidney by state
How common Sidney was among boys born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Massachusetts (2.6×), Louisiana (2.4×), New York (1.6×), Pennsylvania (1.6×). In 32 states fewer than five boys a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Sidney: their share of US boys followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Sidney, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Sidney · Sibling names for Sidney
Questions about the name Sidney
What does Sidney mean?
Sidney means “wide island (place name)” (English, Old English origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Sidney?
Sidney was the 1327th most popular name for boys in 2025, given to 146 babies. Its best year was 1912, when it ranked 80th; the most babies were born in 1918 (1,879). Over the last ten years it has moved down 239 places. More babies were named Sidney in the 1920s than in any other decade.
Is Sidney a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, 48% girls, 52% boys given the name Sidney in the US.
Where is Sidney most popular?
In 2021–2025, Sidney was most common in Massachusetts (0.23 per 1,000 boys), followed by Louisiana and New York.