boy's name
Sullivan
SUL-ih-van
- Origin Irish
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 3
- Letters 8
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 27,089
the United States
#314
2025 births
Sullivan is a boy's name of Irish origin, from Ó Súilleabháin. The first element is súil, an eye, which is agreed; what follows it is not, and readings from one-eyed to hawk-eyed to dark-eyed are all defended by serious sources.
- Sullivan is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 1,157 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,865 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1884.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Sullivan over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 30 |
| 1890s | 63 |
| 1900s | 10 |
| 1910s | 122 |
| 1920s | 141 |
| 1930s | 110 |
| 1940s | 114 |
| 1950s | 129 |
| 1960s | 85 |
| 1970s | 86 |
| 1980s | 83 |
| 1990s | 619 |
| 2000s | 2,382 |
| 2010s | 7,033 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 6,070 |
What Sullivan means
Sullivan means descendant of Súileabhán, a byname built on súil, the Irish word for eye. The second element is contested, so the whole compound has been read as one-eyed, hawk-eyed and dark-eyed depending on which authority you follow.
Where Sullivan comes from
Sullivan anglicizes Ó Súilleabháin, descendant of Súileabhán. The súil element, an eye, is not in doubt; the rest is. One reading takes dubh, black, giving dark-eyed; another takes a word for hawk, giving hawk-eyed; a third reads the name as one-eyed, which would make it a battle byname. Irish scholarship has not settled it. The O'Sullivans were a major Munster family displaced from Tipperary to the Beara peninsula after the Norman invasion, and the surname is among the most common in Ireland. As a first name it follows the American fashion for Irish surnames and is largely a twenty-first-century development.
Sullivan in use
Sullivan charts in six of the seven countries we track and reached its highest recorded use in 2025.
How popular is Sullivan?
In 2025, Sullivan was given to 1,157 babies in the United States, ranking #314 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Sullivan is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Sullivan
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Sullivan also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Sullivan over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Sullivan
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Sullivan in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Sullivan
Sibling names for Sullivan
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Sullivan — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Sullivan
What does the name Sullivan mean?
It is built on súil, the Irish word for eye, but the second element is disputed — one-eyed, hawk-eyed and dark-eyed are all proposed.
Is Sullivan an Irish name?
Yes. It anglicizes Ó Súilleabháin, the name of a major Munster family and one of the most common surnames in Ireland.
What is the nickname for Sullivan?
Sully is by far the most common.
How popular is the name Sullivan?
In 2025, Sullivan was given to 1,157 babies in the United States, ranking #314 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Sullivan a girl's or a boy's name?
Sullivan is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Sullivan?
Sullivan has 3 syllables.
When was Sullivan most popular?
Sullivan peaked in 2025, when 1,157 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Sullivan a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Sullivan currently ranks #202 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.