"Sweeney" is a versatile name rooted in an Irish clan of Scottish origin, appearing across various cultural, geographical, and popular contexts. It features prominently in a medieval Irish legend, "The Madness of Sweeney," and an 1893 Australian bush ballad by Henry Lawson. The name gained literary recognition through T.S. Eliot, who used "Sweeney" in his modernist poems like "Sweeney Erect" and "Sweeney Among the Nightingales," and an abandoned melodrama.

Most famously, "The Sweeney" refers to a highly popular British television series and its spin-off films from the 1970s, which subsequently led to the term becoming London slang for the Metropolitan Police Service's Flying Squad. The TV series also inspired modern adaptations, including a 2012 British film and a 2015 French remake. Beyond these, "Sweeney" also designates places like Sweeney Ridge in California and a British band, illustrating its wide-ranging and significant uses.