How popular is the baby name Sidney in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Sidney.

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Popularity of the baby name Sidney


Posts that mention the name Sidney

How did Alanis Morissette influence baby names in the mid-1990s?

Canadian singer Alanis Morissette in the music video for the song "You Oughta Know" (1995)
Alanis Morissette

The name Alanis first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1995:

  • 1998: 108 baby girls named Alanis
  • 1997: 148 baby girls named Alanis
  • 1996: 172 baby girls named Alanis
  • 1995: 15 baby girls named Alanis [debut]
  • 1994: unlisted
  • 1993: unlisted

The following year, Alanis was one of the fastest-rising baby names in the country, and the spelling variants Alannis and Alanys both debuted in the data.

What was influencing these names in the mid-1990s?

Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis (pronounced uh-LAN-iss) Morissette.

Alanis Morissette's album "Jagged Little Pill" (1995)
Alanis Morissette album

Her third studio album, the alt-rock juggernaut Jagged Little Pill (1995), won “Album of the Year” at both the Grammy Awards and the Juno Awards. It was the best-selling album of 1996 and went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Jagged Little Pill, which had twelve tracks, spawned six hit singles:

  • “You Oughta Know,” which peaked at #6 in both the U.S. and Canada
  • “You Learn,” which peaked at #1 in Canada
  • “Hand in My Pocket,” which peaked at #1 in Canada
  • “Ironic,” which peaked at #4 in the U.S. and #1 in Canada
  • “Head over Feet,” which peaked at #1 in Canada
  • “All I Really Want,” which peaked at #2 in Canada

Isn’t it ironic (don’t you think) that the music video I’m embedding below is the one for the song “Ironic”?

So, did Alanis Morissette influence baby names in her home country as well?

Yes — in 1996, her name debuted in the Canadian data. In fact, it reached the Canadian girls’ top 1,000 for the first and only time that year:

  • 1998: 7 baby girls named Alanis in Canada
  • 1997: 13 baby girls named Alanis in Canada
  • 1996: 23 baby girls named Alanis in Canada [rank: 867th]
  • 1995: unlisted
  • 1994: unlisted
  • 1993: unlisted

(There may have been a handful of earlier namesakes as well: she’d been famous in Canada since the early ’90s, when she was a teen pop star known mononymously as “Alanis.”)

Alanis Nadine Morissette was born to parents Alan and Georgia Morissette in Ontario in 1974. She was born 12 minutes after her twin brother, Wade Imre Morissette.

If “Imre” in association with Alanis Morissette rings a bell for you, that’s because Alanis’ first child, born in late 2010, was named Ever Imre. She has since welcomed two more children: a daughter named Onyx Solace, and a second son named Winter Mercy.

What are your thoughts on name Alanis?

P.S. We’ve also checked out the Canadian usage of the names Crosby, Sidney, and Tamia…

Sources:

Top image: Screenshot of the music video for “You Oughta Know”

How did Jaromír Jágr influence U.S. baby names?

Hockey player Jaromír Jágr
Jaromír Jágr

Earlier this week, the Pittsburgh Penguins retired the jersey of former star player Jaromír Jágr (pronounced YAH-roh-meer YAH-gur).

Jágr, who was born in 1972 and grew up in Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia, was selected fifth overall by the Penguins in the 1990 NHL Draft.

During the 11 years he played in Pittsburgh, Jágr led the league in points for 5 seasons (1995, 1998-2001), led the league in assists for 3 seasons (1998-1999, 2001), and won the Stanley Cup twice (in 1991 and 1992).

So did Jaromír Jágr have an influence U.S. baby names?

Yes — both his first name and his last name debuted in the U.S. baby name data in the 1990s:

Boys named JagrBoys named Jaromir
2003.
20026.
20017.
2000..
19996.
1998.6*
1997..
19966*.
1995..
*Debut

The name Jagr has appeared in the data a total of four times, while the name Jaromir remains a one-hit wonder to this day.

The Czech surname Jágr is derived from the German surname Jäger, which means “hunter.”

The first name Jaromír — which was also the name of Jaromír Jágr’s father, and grandfather — can be traced back to proto-Slavic elements meaning “furious” and “peace.”

(And Jaromír Jágr’s now-retired jersey number, 68, was symbolic of 1968 — the year of the Prague Spring, and also the year that his grandfather died.)

Jágr went on to have a long and successful career in the NHL. He’s currently ranked 4th on the league’s list of most career goals and 5th on the list of most career assists. He finally left the NHL in 2017, but he didn’t retire — he still plays professional hockey in Czechia at the age of 52 (!).

What are your thoughts on the baby names Jaromir and Jagr?

P.S. The cash-strapped Penguins ended up trading Jaromír Jágr to the Washington Capitals in 2001 — several years before drafting future star Sidney Crosby.

Sources:

Image: Jaromír Jágr trading card

How did Sidney Crosby influence baby names in the 2010s?

Hockey player Sidney Crosby (in 2016)
Sidney Crosby

The surname Crosby began popping up in the U.S. baby name data in the 1910s, but it didn’t start to see significant usage until a century later.

After entering the boys’ top 1,000 for the first time in 2011, it reached peak popularity in 2015:

Boys named CrosbyGirls named Crosby
2018344 [rank: 702nd]19
2017417 [rank: 626th]28
2016428 [rank: 625th]28
2015484† [rank: 578th]19
2014435 [rank: 615th]28
2013378 [rank: 647th]24
2012352 [rank: 672nd]22
2011306 [rank: 741st]25
201018016
20097213
20085510
2007217
2006197
200511.
†Peak usage

What fueled this rise?

Nova Scotia-born professional ice hockey center Sidney Crosby.

He was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2005 NHL Draft, and he’s played exclusively with the Penguins ever since.

His first season, as an 18-year-old, he finished runner-up in the vote for the Calder Memorial Trophy, given to the NHL’s top rookie of the year.

After his second season, he was named captain of the Penguins — becoming the youngest team captain in NHL history (at that time).

During his third season, he (and teammates including Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal) helped the Penguins reach the Stanley Cup finals.

Finally, in 2009, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. And they would go on to win it again in both 2016 and 2017 — back-to-back, impressively.

Speaking of winning more than once…Sidney Crosby has also won various league-wide awards (e.g., the Art Ross Trophy, the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Conn Smythe Trophy, the Rocket Richard Trophy) multiple times each.

During the years that Crosby (the name) was picking up steam, usage was highest in two particular states: Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

  • 2010: 180 U.S. boys named Crosby – 18 (10%) in PA, 18 (10%) in MN
  • 2009: 72 U.S. boys named Crosby – 6 (8%) in PA
  • 2008: 55 U.S. boys named Crosby – 8 (15%) in PA, 11 (20%) in MN
  • 2007: 21 U.S. boys named Crosby

The Pennsylvania usage isn’t surprising, but why Minnesota? It could have to do with the fact that, during the single year Sidney Crosby attended Minnesota prep school Shattuck-St. Mary’s, he led their U18 hockey team to a national title (as a 15-year-old).

The success of “Sid the Kid” hasn’t stopped the slow decline of Sidney, but it did give the name a slight boost in Pennsylvania specifically. And it’s likely behind the increased usage of Sid itself, starting in 2006.

Hockey player Sidney Crosby (in 2010)
Sidney Crosby

So has Sidney Crosby influenced baby names in Canada as well? Here’s the Canadian data for both his first name and his last name:

Boys named Crosby (Canada)Boys named Sidney (Canada)
20181130 [rank: 796th]
20171832 [rank: 772th]
20161436 [rank: 716th]
201530 [rank: 797th]39 [rank: 659th]
201428 [rank: 834th]38 [rank: 677th]
201324 [rank: 924th]30 [rank: 785th]
201231 [rank: 760th]31 [rank: 760th]
201123 [rank: 939th]54 [rank: 503rd]
201031 [rank: 767th]59† [rank: 472nd]
2009846 [rank: 576th]
20081350 [rank: 534th]
2007753 [rank: 496th]
2006.33 [rank: 663rd]
20057*20 [rank: 906th]
*Debut, †Peak usage

Crosby, who represents Canada internationally, was a member of Team Canada at both the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Canada’s men’s ice hockey team won gold in both tournaments. Notably, in 2010 — on home soil (ice?) — Crosby scored the “golden goal” against Team USA in sudden-death overtime.

The English surname Crosby can be traced back to any of various locations in England called Crosby. The place name is made up of the Old Norse elements kross, meaning “cross,” and byr, meaning “settlement.”

What are your thoughts on the name Crosby?

P.S. A boy born in 2015 was named Malkin Crosby Long after two Penguins players. I discovered him via a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article featuring several of Crosby’s young namesakes.

Sources:

Images: Sidney Crosby 2016-04-28 by Michael Miller under CC BY-SA 4.0; Sidney Crosby (Team Canada) by VancityAllie under CC BY 2.0.

Top unisex baby names of 2022

pink and blue cupcakes

Which unisex baby names were the most popular in 2022?

To figure this out, I did two things. First, I identified all the gender-neutral names in the latest batch of U.S. baby name data. (To qualify as gender-neutral, a name must be given to girls at least one-third of the time and to boys at least one-third of the time.) Second, I sorted those hundreds of gender-neutral names by total usage: male plus female.

The following names came out on top:

  1. Parker
  2. River
  3. Charlie
  4. Blake
  5. Emerson
  6. Finley
  7. Phoenix
  8. Remington
  9. Tatum
  10. Rory
  11. Dakota
  12. Ari
  13. Shiloh
  14. Alexis
  15. Armani
  16. Remy
  17. Salem
  18. Legacy
  19. Skyler
  20. Denver

The first four names — Parker, River, Charlie, and Blake — were also the top four in 2021.

The five names that entered the top 20 were Shiloh, Salem, Legacy, Skyler, and Denver. Four of the five qualified as unisex in 2021, but ranked lower on the list. Legacy, on the other hand, was slightly over two-thirds male in 2021.

The five names that dropped out of the top 20 were Hayden, Amari, Oakley, Reign, and Milan. All five failed to qualify as unisex in 2022. Hayden, Amari and Milan were given to too many boys; Oakley and Reign were given to too many girls.

Here are those top 20 names again, this time with total counts and gender percentages:

Number of babies*Percentage girlsPercentage boys
Parker6,24338.49%61.51%
River5,37935.55%64.45%
Charlie4,42052.53%47.47%
Blake3,01447.81%52.19%
Emerson2,97557.61%42.39%
Finley2,57152.74%47.26%
Phoenix2,33543.08%56.92%
Remington2,21735.14%64.86%
Tatum2,20252.32%47.68%
Rory2,18143.83%56.17%
Dakota2,13756.34%43.66%
Ari1,73641.24%58.76%
Shiloh1,54359.82%40.18%
Alexis1,53356.69%43.31%
Armani1,49646.86%53.14%
Remy1,41135.08%64.92%
Salem1,08763.75%36.25%
Legacy1,00065.00%35.00%
Skyler97358.38%41.62%
Denver96333.33%66.67%
*Male and female usage added together

So which names came next on the list?

The following, ranked 21st through 35th, all fell within both the girls’ top 1,000 and the boys’ top 1,000 in 2022:

  • Briar, 924 total babies
  • Azariah, 903
  • Drew, 896
  • Amiri, 880
  • Bellamy, 847
  • Ocean, 842
  • Jamie, 841
  • Sevyn, 792
  • Dior, 745
  • Chandler, 719
  • Tru, 710
  • Murphy, 709
  • Layne, 702
  • Justice, 643
  • Robin, 637

And here are the rest of the unisex names that had a combined usage of at least 200 babies (in descending order):

Quincy, Kingsley, Jessie, Sol, Khari, Ira, Landry, Joey, Campbell, Kacey, Arden, True, Yael, Jaylin, Shea, Harlem, Joan, Kodi, Hollis, Sidney, Shai, Jireh, Ripley, Laken, Bowie, Kit, Ever, Montana, Kasey, Kadence, Yuri, Jael, Azari, Gentry, Rain, Storm, Perry, Honor, Denim, Isa, Divine, Merritt, Dominique, Camdyn, Jelani, Cove, Ashtyn, Jean, Armoni, Jules, Brighton, Channing

Kacey was one of the few names that happened to hit 50/50 usage — exactly 202 baby girls and 202 baby boys — in 2022. Movie-fueled Marvel was another 50/50 name.

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from Gallery 1 by Sarah Howells under CC BY-SA 3.0.