Sullivan

Meaning: Descendant of Súileabhán
Origin: Variant of O'Sullivan · Irish; Súileabhán means dark-eyed one (from Irish)

Girl's name · #2432 in the US (2025) · 2020s wave

8% girls · 92% boys — About 92% of babies named Sullivan in recent years have been boys. Sullivan →

Popularity over time

Sullivan reached its best rank, #1954, in 2024 and ranked #2432 in 2025. About 1,400 girls have carried it since 1993.

In recent years, Sullivan ran about 12× its national rate in South Carolina.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 6 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

It is also an American family name — about 221,000 people carried it as a surname in the 2010 census.

Among 29 notable people named Sullivan:

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