Sigismund

Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German sigu "victory" + munt "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it Segimundus. There appears to be an older form of the High German word "Sieg" (victory): sigis, obviously Gothic and an inferred Germanic form, and there is a younger form: sigi, which is Old Saxon or Old High German sigu (both from about 9th century). A 5th century Prince of Burgundy was known both as Sigismund and Sigimund (see Ernst Förstemann, Altdeutsche Personennamen, 1906; Henning Kaufmann, Altdeutsche Personennamen, Ergänzungsband, 1968). Its Hungarian equivalent is Zsigmond.

A Lithuanian name Žygimantas, meaning "wealth of (military) campaign", from Lithuanian žygis "campaign, march" + manta "goods, wealth", has been a substitution of the name Sigismund in the Lithuanian language, from which it was adopted by the Ruthenian language as Жыгімонт (such are the cases of Sigismund Kęstutaitis, Sigismund Korybut, Sigismund I the Old, Sigismund II Augustus). The Polish spelling is Zygmunt, and the Serbo-Croatian variant is Žigmund.

European rulers

 * Saint Sigismund of Burgundy (died 523), King of the Burgundians
 * Sigismund I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (died 1405)
 * Sigismund I the Old King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
 * Sigismund II August King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
 * Sigismund III Vasa King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, King of Sweden
 * Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368–1437), also King of Hungary and King of Bohemia
 * Sigismund Kęstutaitis (c. 1365–1440), Grand Duke of Lithuania
 * Sigismund Korybut (c. 1395-c. 1435), Lithuanian duke who participated in Hussite Wars
 * Sigismund II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (died after 1452)
 * Sigismund, Archduke of Austria (1427–1496), ruler of Further Austria
 * Sigismund of Bavaria (1439–1501), Duke of Bavaria
 * Sigismund von Herberstein (1486–1566), Carniolan diplomat, writer, historian and member of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Council
 * Sigismund of Brandenburg (1538–1566), Prince-Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt
 * Sigismund Rákóczi (died 1608), briefly Prince of Transylvania
 * Sigismund Báthory (1572–1613), Prince of Transylvania
 * Sigismund Francis of Austria (1630–1665), ruler of Further Austria
 * Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1864-1866)
 * Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1896–1978)
 * Ishak Bey Kraloğlu or Sigismund of Bosnia (born in the 1450s?), son of King Stephen Thomas of Bosnia
 * John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg (1572–1618)

Others

 * Sigismund Albicus (c. 1360–1427), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague
 * Sigismund Bachrich (1841–1913), Hungarian composer, violinist and violist
 * Sigismund Bacstrom (c. 1750-1805), German doctor, surgeon and scholar of alchemy
 * Sigismund Payne Best (1885–1978), British secret agent during the First and Second World Wars
 * Sigismund von Braun (1911–1998), German diplomat and Secretary of State
 * Sigismund Danielewicz (1847–1927), California trade union organizer and anarchist
 * Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Austrian founder of psychoanalysis born Sigismund Schlomo Freud
 * Sigismund Gelenius (1497–1554), Greek scholar and humanist
 * Sigismund Goldwater (1873–1942), physician, hospital administrator, and New York City Commissioner of Health
 * Sigismund von Götzen (1576–1650), German diplomat and politician
 * Sigismund Ernst Hohenwart (1745–1825), Bishop of Linz
 * Sigismund Koelle (1820–1902), German missionary and pioneer scholar of African languages
 * Sigismund Ernst Richard Krone (1861–1917), German naturalist, zoologist, spelunker, archaeologist and researcher
 * Sigismund Mendl (1866–1945), British politician
 * Sigismund von Neukomm (1778–1858), Austrian composer and pianist
 * Sigismund Felix Freiherr von Ow-Felldorf (1855–1936), Bishop of Passau
 * Sigismund von Reitzenstein (1766–1847), first minister of state of the Grand Duchy of Baden
 * Sigismund von Schlichting (1829–1909), Prussian general and military theorist
 * Sigismund von Schrattenbach (1698–1771), Archbishop of Salzburg
 * Sigismund Streit (1687–1775), German merchant and art patron in Venice
 * Sigismund Zaremba (1861–1915), Polish composer

Fictional characters

 * Sigismund, a Space Marine character from the Warhammer 40,000 novel series, The Horus Heresy
 * Sigismund Arbuthnot, the "mad maths master" in the Molesworth books
 * Sigismund Dijkstra, "the witcher" in the Andrzej Sapkowski books