Sully
Masculine · “dark-eyed”
Sully is given to both — 680 boys and 370 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Sully is the short form of Sullivan, an Irish surname with a striking meaning behind it — the family of the dark-eyed one, or the one-eyed one, depending on which reading you take.
How old is the name Sully?
Sully first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Sully alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 700 people named Sully are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sully most popular?
Sully peaked in 2011, reaching #2798 nationally. Today it ranks #3314, 516 places below that high. See the whole 2011 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
- 1993
- Most boys named
- 201142 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2798reached in 2011
- Change vs 2024
- +9.4%35 in 2025, from 32
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: Wisconsin.
Sullys among us
people named Sully are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 48,802 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 Thorne 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: Thorne climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Thorne'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
Where Sully is headed
Sully looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 17% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Sully beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sully in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Irish meaning with an unusually vivid image behind it.
- Warm and immediately friendly, and understood by everyone.
- Sullivan stands behind it as a fuller formal option.
- It reads as a nickname to most people, which may matter on a formal document.
- A large blue animated monster and a famous airline pilot both carry the name, and both associations are strong.
- In English the verb to sully means to stain, which is an unrelated word and will still be mentioned.
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What they receive
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Sully
Masculine · #3314 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 700 people named Sully are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sully in 2025?
- Sully ranks #3314 among US boy names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sully?
- About 1 in every 48,802 US boys born in 2025 was named Sully — 35 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.
Rainier#3314 · Coulter#3314 · Caio#3314 · Kaydon#3314 · Daksh#3314 · Kree#3314 · Calen#3314 · Mathis#3314
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sully? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sully and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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