Sullivan
Sullivan was given to 1,083 boys in 2025, #314 among boys’ names; 17,077 Americans have been recorded with it since 1884 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 16,300 Americans named Sullivan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 4 and 15.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sullivan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Sullivan?
#314 among boys’ names, 2025
Sullivan rose from #455 in 2015 to #314 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.35 to 0.63 per 1,000.
1,157 babies in 2025, the peak
Sullivan peaked in 2025, when 1,157 babies were given it (1,083 boys, #314 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 1,016 boys.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,083 | #314 | 0.63 |
| 2024 | 1,016 | #339 | 0.59 |
| 2023 | 918 | #358 | 0.54 |
| 2022 | 901 | #366 | 0.52 |
| 2021 | 876 | #372 | 0.50 |
| 2020 | 770 | #398 | 0.45 |
| 2019 | 778 | #401 | 0.43 |
| 2018 | 822 | #388 | 0.45 |
| 2017 | 797 | #401 | 0.43 |
| 2016 | 783 | #409 | 0.41 |
Every recorded year (127)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 667 | #455 | 0.35 |
| 2014 | 634 | #463 | 0.33 |
| 2013 | 540 | #504 | 0.29 |
| 2012 | 548 | #490 | 0.29 |
| 2011 | 488 | #523 | 0.26 |
| 2010 | 371 | #650 | 0.19 |
| 2009 | 380 | #653 | 0.19 |
| 2008 | 332 | #705 | 0.16 |
| 2007 | 314 | #732 | 0.15 |
| 2006 | 203 | #931 | 0.10 |
| 2005 | 190 | #927 | 0.10 |
| 2004 | 177 | #952 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 171 | #957 | 0.09 |
| 2002 | 159 | #992 | 0.08 |
| 2001 | 124 | #1,131 | 0.06 |
| 2000 | 85 | #1,461 | 0.04 |
| 1999 | 81 | #1,444 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 86 | #1,367 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 69 | #1,515 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 67 | #1,508 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 58 | #1,595 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 32 | #2,435 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 52 | #1,689 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 34 | #2,244 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 30 | #2,389 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 26 | #2,613 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 14 | #3,993 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 10 | #4,733 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 9 | #4,788 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #7,451 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #5,493 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 11 | #3,842 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 8 | #4,933 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 10 | #4,112 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 9 | #4,455 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,294 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 7 | #4,987 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,531 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 9 | #3,967 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,629 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 8 | #4,148 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 6 | #5,012 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 11 | #3,128 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,620 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 11 | #3,045 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 8 | #3,556 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 9 | #3,079 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,515 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,503 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 15 | #2,161 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #3,254 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 9 | #3,028 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 6 | #3,990 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 6 | #4,014 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 10 | #2,848 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 10 | #2,801 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 9 | #3,010 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 17 | #2,010 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,185 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 15 | #2,126 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 14 | #2,198 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 12 | #2,379 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 18 | #1,849 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,044 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 11 | #2,424 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 16 | #1,932 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,014 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 11 | #2,489 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 20 | #1,638 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 16 | #1,761 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,292 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 8 | #2,940 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #2,629 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,841 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,278 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,138 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 8 | #2,886 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 16 | #1,792 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,919 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,115 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,521 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 15 | #1,984 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,201 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 9 | #2,989 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 10 | #2,742 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 7 | #3,660 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 17 | #2,023 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,549 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 19 | #1,860 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 15 | #2,211 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,210 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 17 | #2,029 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 14 | #2,362 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,215 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 16 | #2,049 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 18 | #1,896 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 18 | #1,802 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 13 | #2,245 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 10 | #2,596 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 12 | #1,958 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,072 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,607 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,282 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,565 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 10 | #897 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 9 | #778 | 0.08 |
| 1898 | 7 | #987 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,090 | 0.05 |
| 1894 | 7 | #943 | 0.06 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,167 | 0.04 |
| 1892 | 11 | #681 | 0.09 |
| 1891 | 8 | #758 | 0.08 |
| 1890 | 10 | #663 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 10 | #666 | 0.09 |
| 1888 | 8 | #809 | 0.07 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,091 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 7 | #838 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Sullivan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 17,077 Americans recorded as Sullivan, 8% are girls and 92% boys. In 2025 it went to 74 girls and 1,083 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Sullivan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sullivan, and how old are they?
16,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 17,077 Americans ever recorded as Sullivan. The median Sullivan alive today is 9 years old; half are between 4 and 15.
The 2020 Census counted 10,147 people named Sullivan (971 women and girls, 9,176 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,593 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 33 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 147 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 124 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 400 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,120 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 11,500 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Sullivan born?
The states with the most babies named Sullivan are Minnesota, Texas and Ohio, with 19% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 75 | #77 | 2.6× |
| Texas | 68 | #532 | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 61 | #218 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 59 | #172 | 1.3× |
| South Carolina | 57 | #113 | 3.3× |
| North Carolina | 52 | #274 | 1.3× |
| Wisconsin | 48 | #128 | 2.1× |
| Virginia | 45 | #224 | 0.9× |
| California | 43 | #656 | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 43 | #276 | 0.9× |
Where Sullivan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sullivan is most over-represented in South Carolina: since 1910 it was given 3.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Sullivan with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Sullivan
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Sullivan and names like it
- Compare Sullivan and AxelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sSullivan peaked in 2025.
- South Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sullivan since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Sullivan.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Sullivan alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with SMost given first.