Interesting dilemma. WEll, I think your DH is right in that Sidney is now considered a girls' name in the US, although I don't know about any soap opera though. I thought it was to do with the girl from Scream.
It's just so masculine-sounding, but now, annoyingly, I think it is a Meredith/Evelyn/Leslie/Vivian name. It's 'gone to the girls'.
Actually, cruising the US baby names board every now and then is an eye-opener. If you have time, you should post the question 'Sidney?' on the boys name board on babycenter (US version) and you will see what the general public make of it. I might sound like I'm obsessed with America but if they ruin a name it matters here too soon enough.
Stanley is a family name I considered using, but an American psychologist with a huge interest in names (like me) told me that any name that ends in 'ley' is perceived as being a girls name or androgenous in America.
I was trying to talk some posters on US babycenter out of using Finley for their daughters but it is hopeless. The way names are evolving, even Stanley will be considered a girls name in America within 20 yrs. A UK baby Stanley would be fine until he was 20 of course! No big deal. But by the time he is forty, Britney Spears type characters called 'Stanley' would have been popping up.
Sidney is about 20 years ahead. It is already considered a girls name in the US, and I think SOME people have probably named daughters Sidney in the UK. I think it's quite sad, but it's name evolution, and it's controlled by the Americans, not by GB
Ashley was a boys name, and Finley is in the middle of a cross-over and even Stanley which sounds so masculine to my ear wil end up being a girls name......
Names such as Harley, Marley, Hadley crop up onthe US boards. They sound androgenous to me. I think they sound more clearly 'girl' to the American ear though.
GL
What's your other grandpa called