Sullivan

Where Sullivan comes from

Sullivan hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1829
    Sullivan Ballou born
    Union Army officer
  2. 1884
    First appearance
    #764 among boys, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1977
    Sullivan Stapleton born
    Australian actor
  4. 2025
    Peak, #314
    1,083 babies named Sullivan — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Sullivan Stapleton · Australian actor, born 1977
  • Sullivan Ballou · Union Army officer, 1829–1861
  • Sullivan Walker · actor, 1946–2012
  • Sullivan Fortner · musical artist, born 1986
  • Sullivan Silva · Brazilian footballer, born 1989

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.