Sidwell (girl's name)

[KathDayKnight50]

Found this name in a Victorian novel and think it's really pretty.

I don't have a baby to name.

What do others think of it?

Just interested.

As others have said just sounds like a run down area. So unfeminine and ugly to my ears

I love it.
Damn shame I won't be having any more children.

It's my friends surname. Sidwell Sidwell!

Mixture of Chigwell and Sidcup.

I don't like it, it sounds very masculine if it's a name at all.

Nope

Awful, sorry!

I don't hate it.

And on the right sort of girl, it could be fabulous.

It sounds like it should be a suburb of London

That’s exactly what I thought. South London.

Ha Ruffles, my first though was also Steve

Are you Mrs Rees-Mogg?

Nn Welly??

Just wait until high school, "I bet she'd sidwell on a c**k"...she'd be rather open to a lot of tasteless jokes.

Awful

Sidonie is much nicer.

Just wait until high school, "I bet she'd sidwell on a ck"...she'd be rather open to a lot of tasteless jokes

[grin} Wow, that never even occurred to me and I have a dirty mind!

In the book, Sidwell is better than her sister's name - Fanny!

In the book, Sidwell is an upper-class girl, very well-educated, and she knows her own mind. She turns down a suitor she had fallen in love with because he lied to her and her family. She has principles and despite getting quite old to find a husband (in Victorian terms), she will not compromise. I admired her for that.

Well, I like it. It's the name of a saint, so it has provenance, and it's unusual. I think it sounds nice too - strong and not cutesy. I know the George Gissing character too - she's a good heroine.

I know what you mean daisypond.

I have read the book several times and the name no longer strikes me as strange. I have come to rather like it.

Glad to have found another Gissing fan! I love Victorian novels in general, but have really got into Gissing the last few years.

Makes me think of Sidwell Friends - the elite Quaker private school in DC that Obama sent his daughters to

I don't mind it. I'd prefer to be called that, nn Sid, than what I'm actually called (traditional female name).

This site (below) says that Sidwell is an English version of an older British name, Sadfyl. I don't know how accurate the site is or how to pronounce the name. Perhaps Welsh-speakers could help?
catholicsaints.info/tag/name-sadfyl/

I don't mind Sidwell. Might be good to have a couple of different-style middle names, however, to give flexibility.

Thanks for all the further information on the name everyone - so interesting.