Syndey
From an Old English name meaning "wide meadow near a lake".
Name Census estimates that about 310 living Americans carry the first name Syndey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Syndey today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Syndey births was 2001 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Syndey. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
310
~ 1 in 1,105,659 Americans
Peak year
2001
30 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2010 SSA rank
#13,327
Tracked since 1988
Census
Syndey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 457 people with the first name Syndey, which placed it at #21,974 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,974
National first-name rank
People counted
457
457 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Syndey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Syndey is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.4%) and Hispanic (9.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Syndey described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Syndey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.7% · 305
- Black or African American14.4% · 66
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 42
- Two or more races5.7% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
Popularity
Syndey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Syndey from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 156 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Syndey by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Syndey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Syndeys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Syndey
The name Syndey is derived from an Old English surname that referred to someone who lived near a well or spring. It comes from the Old English words "syd" meaning "side" and "ey" meaning "island." Originally, it would have been used as a surname to indicate someone who lived on an island near a spring or well.
The earliest recorded use of the name Syndey dates back to the late 12th century in England. One of the first known bearers was Syndey de Sideney, a landowner mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Norfolk in 1199. It was not until the 16th century that Syndey began being used as a masculine given name.
In the 17th century, Sir Syndey Smith (1588-1665) was an English soldier and diplomat who served as Governor of the East India Company's possessions in India. Another notable figure was Sir Syndey Lee (1617-1667), an English judge and politician who served as Solicitor General under Charles II.
The 18th century saw the birth of Syndey Parkinson (1745-1771), an English botanist who sailed with Captain James Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. He is remembered for his detailed records and illustrations of the plants he encountered in Australia and New Zealand.
In the 19th century, Syndey Dobell (1824-1874) was an English poet and critic who was part of the Spasmodic school of poetry. Syndey Grundy (1848-1914) was an English dramatist and novelist best known for her popular plays "A Pair of Spectacles" and "The Snowball."
The 20th century produced Syndey Greenstreet (1879-1954), an English actor who often played the role of a corpulent, sinister man in films like "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca." Syndey Pollack (1934-2008) was an American film director, producer, and actor who directed classics such as "Out of Africa," "Tootsie," and "The Firm."
People
Syndey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Syndey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Syndey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Syndey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 310 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Syndey going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,105,659 US residents.
Is Syndey a common name?
We classify Syndey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 318 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Syndey most popular?
The single biggest year for Syndey was 2001, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Syndey is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Syndey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 457 people with the name Syndey, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,974 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Syndey in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Syndey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Syndey leans strongly female. 423 people counted with this name were female (92.2%), compared with 36 male bearers (7.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Syndey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Syndey is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (14.4%) and Hispanic (9.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Syndey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Syndey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.7% (305 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Syndey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Syndey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Syndey in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Syndey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Syndey in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Syndey can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Syndey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.