Sikke, pron.
ˆsɪkÉ™ 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 of
Germanic names starting with ''
Sigi-'' (meaning "victory"). Sikke is cognate with the
German noun ''
Sieg'' and the
Dutch noun ''
zege''. It is also cognate with the Dutch masculine given name Sicco, which originated in the northeastern part of the
Netherlands, in areas bordering the province of
Friesland.
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, 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, 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 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
The Vetkopers and Schieringers ( fry, Fetkeapers en Skieringers) were two opposing Frisian factional parties from the medieval period. They were responsible for a civil war that lasted for over a century (1350–1498) and which eventually led to t ...
*
Sicco van Goslinga (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 (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