Variant of Cedric, a name coined by Walter Scott possibly from Saxon Cerdic, meaning 'war leader'.
Sedrick is a variant spelling of Cedric, and Cedric itself has one of the most unusual origin stories in the English naming canon: it was essentially invented. Sir Walter Scott coined it for his 1819 historical novel Ivanhoe, intending it as the name of Ivanhoe's proud Saxon father, Cedric of Rotherwood. Scott likely adapted it from Cerdic, the name of a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex — though some scholars suspect Scott simply misread or creatively altered the original.
Whatever the mechanism, the name stuck, entering widespread use on the strength of Ivanhoe's enormous popularity. The name gained a second, even broader wave of cultural exposure through Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved 1886 novel Little Lord Fauntleroy, whose golden-curled protagonist, Cedric Errol, became one of the most famous child characters of the Victorian era. Burnett's Cedric was sweet-natured, generous, and unaffectedly noble — qualities that made the name synonymous with a certain gentle aristocratic goodness, even as the Fauntleroy velvet-suit aesthetic became a target of gentle mockery.
The spelling Sedrick adds a softer, more individual quality, distancing the name slightly from its Victorian associations. In American usage, Sedrick and Cedric have been particularly favored in Black American communities since the mid-twentieth century, where the name has been carried with distinct contemporary style. Comedian and actor Cedric the Entertainer brought fresh, warm energy to the name at the turn of the millennium. Sedrick, as an alternate form, emphasizes that same vitality — a name with invented origins that has become, through use and love, entirely real.