Sikke, pron. �sɪkə is a fairly common West Frisian masculine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

. It developed from a reduced form or a

hypocorism A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...

of Germanic names starting with ''

Sigi In the Völsung cycle, Sigi is the ancestor of the Völsung lineage. In the ''Völsunga saga'', he is said to be one of the sons of Odin. He is also listed among Odin's sons in the '' Nafnaþulur''. He has a son called Rerir. He was outlawed for ...

-'' (meaning "victory"). Sikke is cognate with the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

Sieg The Sieg is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine. The river is named after the Sicambri. It is in length. The source is located in the Rothaargebirge mountains. From here t ...

'' and the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

noun ''

zege Chipsi mayai ( Swahili for "chips and eggs"), also known as zege, is the most popular street food found all over Tanzania. The dish was invented in the streets of Dar es Salaam. In its most basic form, chipsi mayai is a simple potato-egg omelet ...

''. It is also cognate with the Dutch masculine given name Sicco, which originated in the northeastern part of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in areas bordering the province of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

. Because of the strong influence the Dutch language had (and continues to have) in Friesland, Frisian historic figures bearing the name Sikke became known as Sicco outside of Friesland. Such is the case with the

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

Sicco van Goslinga Sicco van Goslinga ( Herbaijum, Friesland, 1664— Dongjum, 12 October 1731) was a Dutch statesman and diplomat, who served as ''gedeputeerde te velde'' (deputy-in-the-field, a kind of political commissar) of the States-General of the Dutch ...

, who was actually called Sikke. This was not an isolated development; the same thing happened with bearers of other Frisian names: the religious leader

Menno Simons Menno Simons (1496 – 31 January 1561) was a Roman Catholic priest from the Friesland region of the Low Countries who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and became an influential Anabaptist religious leader. Simons was a contemporary o ...

, for instance, was actually called Minne Simens. In West Frisian, masculine given names can usually be adapted to equivalent feminine given names. In the case of Sikke, this is accomplished by dropping the

voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...

final

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

and adding a

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

in its place (in this case ''-je''), resulting in Sikje. This name, however, is extremely rare. A somewhat more usual modern feminine given name based on Sikke is Sikkelina.Rienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), {{ISBN, 9 03 30 11 506, p. 104.

People named Sikke

Famous people with the name Sikke include: *Sikke Douwes Sjaardema (1328-±1422), also called Sicco Sjaerdema, a Frisian nobleman and leader of the Schieringers *

(1664-1731), actually called Sikke van Goslinga, a Frisian nobleman, diplomat and politician *Sikke Sleeswijk (1841-1908), a Frisian lawyer and judge *Sikke Sibes Koldijk (1861-1927), a Frisian architect and poet *

Sikke Bruinsma Sikke Bruinsma (5 April 1889 – 27 February 1963) was a Dutch sports shooter. He competed in the 25 m rapid fire pistol event at the 1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially th ...

(1889-1963), a Frisian sports shooter *Sikke Smeding (1889-1967), a Frisian agricultural engineer *Sikke Venema (1937-1999), a Frisian footballer *Sikke Doele (1942-2002), a Frisian author and poet

References

Frisian masculine given names