Has the tradtional boy's name Sidney been ruined by the US trend to use it on girls?

[artichokes]

This is a slightly premature thread as I have only just found out I am pregnant. But if this is a boy then I would love to call him Sidney after two of my great-grandfathers. One was Sidney known as Sid, and the other Sidney known as Sonny.

I love Sidney known as Sonny (although am trying to find out if that is a traditional diminuitive or just my great-gramps). However, DH thinks that people now associite the name Sidney with girls named after US soap characters. Is that true? What do people think of a boy called Sidney, shortened to Sonny?

my grandpa was sidney (sid) too, & my cousin has given it to his son as a middle name. i think it's more of a boy's name in the uk. and sweet. anyway, i have a unisex name (alex), & it isn't really a problem.

oh, congratulations on pregnancy . have you sold your house yet?

i knew of one, born about 12 years ago.. i thought it was unusual but fine, for a boy.
i only know of one girl

I like Sydney for boys and girls...our 3. ds's 1.middlename is Sydney after his grandad and greatgrandad who were both called Sydney George, one known as Sydney and the other one known as George...

Sidney shortened to Sonny is fine. Not sure if diminuitive is traditionally correct but who cares? The fact that it means something to you and your family means so much more. As to your DHs concerns, I can see where he's coming from but I really don't think Sidney for a girl ever really crossed the pond. I'm aware of it, but have never met or heard anyone mention a girl called Sidney. Ever.

I know an english Babygirl called Sidney...

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

Sidney for a boy has totally different connotations for me to Sindey for a girl. Girl Sidney - Jerry Springer guest. Boy Sidney - old fashioned, quite cute. Sid is a great nickname for either sex, though!

I first came across Sydney as a girl's name in Betty MacDonald's books - she was born in 1908 in the US & it was her mother's name, so presumably 1890's at the latest.

Yes, I agree with MrsMattie. Sidney is the name of a true gentleman who wears a tie every day and carries a real hankie in his pocket. It doesn't bring an image of a girl for me at all. DP has just piped up about Sidney being cockney rhyming slang for something he can't remember. Don't know how he knows that. Can't think of anything to rhyme with it except kidney, so he may be making it up!

I wanted to call DS Sid but DH wouldn't let me, so I love it

I thought girls spelt it Sydney?

Oh and I saw a Cydeny the other day

There is a six-year-old Sid in DS2's class, along with a Frank and an Eric. I think it's great.

lol at girls being sydney. My dad's middle name is sydney spelt with a y

Robert Lindsays daughter is called Sydney i think??

Yes she is!

I have met a girl called Sydney here in the UK. Not sure I am keen on Sid - always makes me think of Sid Vicious lol! But Sidney is nice. But tbh if you are going to call him Sonny, why not just use that?? In RL I know lots of people who are not called by the first name on their birth cert (including me) and it is a load of hassle tbh... maybe different if you are just going to use Sonny as a pet name at home (the same way you would say darling, honey, whatever form of endearment you use) but he is called Sidney at school, etc.

Probably was ok for your great-grandfather as there was less call for "official" id, etc in those days so he may have never needed to use Sidney, iyswim....

Sid is a great name for either sex IMO. I like Sidonie for a girl's version, or Sidra (think I got that one from a novel about the Romans ). As with all things though, use it if you like it and it has meaning for you - who cares what other people associate it with?

Thanks for all your comments. Generally you are all more positive about Sidney than I expected. I had googled Sidney/Sonny and it seems that it is used as a diminuitive, but mainly in the States... However, it must have originated here as my great-grandfather was born in 1898 in Liverpool and got his nickname then.

MadameC - it is interesting what you say about the importance of what is happening to names in the US. I sort of agree that trends cross the pond, but I am not sure how much I want to worry about that. You can't anticipate everything. For example you suggest Stanley will eventually be thought of as a girls name, but in London Stanley is having a real renaissance for little boys. There are so many of them around here that I don't think US trends will change its UK image as a boy's name .

Hoxton Chick - we still haven't had an offer on the house. It is so frustrating. We may take it off the market and just settle here for a while. How is your sale going?

I have just been looking at baby name sites and strangely half of them don't even list Sidney .

I doubt Finley will ever be seen nor be commonly used as a girls name here. The difference being, that Finley/Finlay on a boy or girl is very rare in the US, whereas here it is very popular on a boy.

The thing with Sidney is it is at the moment more frequently used on girls than boys.
In 2007 there were 151 baby girls born called Sydney, whereas there were 25 male Sydneys and and 113 male Sidneys.

Finley/Finley on a girl did got come in the top 2000, which means if there were any born at all there were only one or two. Whereas for boys there were 2,600 Finlay/Finleys born.

I think that Sydney/Sidney is pretty much seen as a unisex name now. I really really can't see the same happening to Stanley.

I like it for a boy, was actually thinking about it if we had a boy this time but we are having a girl so have settled for something else! There were a couple of people on another board with girls called Sydney. I'm not that keen on it myself for girls.