Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Sidney?
Births per year, rank history and how many Sidneys are alive today.
Sidney (male) sits just outside the top 100 boys' names in England and Wales, ranked 203rd in 2025 with 247 babies given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 1904, when around 5,400 babies were given the name, the 27th most popular that year. It has declined since 1904; the 2025 figure is roughly 5% of its peak. Numbers have been falling in recent years. At least 110,000 babies have been named Sidney in England and Wales since 1904. Figures before 1996 are estimates. Sidney is one spelling of a name also recorded as Sydney; the combined figures below cover every spelling. Common short forms of Sidney include Sid.
Across all spellings of the name, the Sidney you are most likely to meet is around 5 years old - or else around 71: the name has two living generations. Half of all Sidneys born in England and Wales are between 18 and 77, and there are at least 17,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's roughly a 5.5% chance that at least one of them will be called Sidney.
How many babies are named Sidney each year?
Includes all spellings: Sidney, Sydney. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Sidney spelling rank?
Where does the Sydney spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Sidney most popular?
Sidney peaked in 1904, when around 5,400 babies in England and Wales were given the name across all spellings.
How many people are called Sidney?
At least 17,000 people named Sidney in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Sidney?
Most living Sidneys are between 18 and 77; the most common age is about 5. There is a second cluster around 71.
Is Sidney becoming more or less popular?
Declining: recent figures are a fraction of the 1904 peak.