Sully
Feminine · “dark-eyed”
Sully is given to both — 370 girls and 680 boys since 1880. See Sully as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Sully entered the US charts in 1980, peaked at #2382 in 1984, ranks #13208 in 2025 — given to only a few children a year.
How old is the name Sully?
Sully first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Sully alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 400 people named Sully are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sully most popular?
Sully peaked in 1984, reaching #2382 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 10,826 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ó Súilleabháin to Sully
The story of Sully
The O'Sullivans were the ruling family of a large part of south-west Munster and are among the most numerous Irish surnames today. The eye in their name is not decorative: Irish naming used physical description freely, and the epithet was fixed long before it became a family name. The surname reached America with Irish emigration, and Sully has been used as a short form since. Its use as a registered given name is recent.
Meaningscholars disagree
dark-eyed, or one-eyed
Irish Ó Súilleabháin is built on súil, an eye, with a second element read either as dubh, dark, or as a word for one; both readings are old and neither has won. A separate French line takes Sully from a place name in the Loire.
How the name formed
- Ó Súilleabháin
- Sullivan
- Sully
Related forms: Ó Súilleabháin · Sullivan · Sully
Pronouncing Sully
SUL-ee
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation.
Nicknames for Sully
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1980
- Most girls named
- 198440 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2382reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- +20.0%6 in 2025, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Sully in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Súilleabháin in Irish — related form
- Sullivan in English — related form
- Sully in French — related form
Sullys among us
people named Sully are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Sully
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ivan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sully's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ivan climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ivan's path sketches the road Sully is walking now.
Sully sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Sully beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sully in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
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What they receive
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Sully
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sullys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Sully are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sully in 2025?
- Sully ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sully?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Sully — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sully with classmates?
- Sully will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sully
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sully? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sully and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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