Sidney

Sidney is the transferred use of a Norman-French surname thought to be derived from a medieval baronial family name “Saint-Denis” (St. Denis being one of the patron saints of France). Alternately, Sidney is also believed to be derived from an English surname originating as a place name. The Old English words “sīdan” and “ēg” together indicated a “wide riverside meadow” which would have described the landscape in Surrey England. Evidence indicates that the Sydney/Sidney surnames have been used as given names in England since the 1700’s perhaps owing to a famous English nobleman/politician, Algernon Sidney, who got caught up in the English Civil Wars (1642-1651) revolving around King Charles I to Oliver Cromwell to the reinstatement of the monarchy with the return of Charles II. Sidney was tried for treason on shaky evidence and executed under King Charles II for apparently plotting against the king. He was later venerated as a patriot, a hero and a political martyr. Sidney’s extensive writings influenced evolving political thought in 18th century Britain and Colonial America. Furthermore, the name Sidney gained considerable popularity in the 1800’s, probably influenced by the Charles Dickens’s character Sydney Carton from “A Tale of Two Cities” (1859). Both Sidney and Sydney have mostly been considered masculine names in all English-speaking countries until the 1980’s when North America commandeered the name for little girls. The name could also be considered a “place name” referring to Sydney, Australia (often erroneously spelled Sidney).