Sully
Sully is given to both girls and boys: 6 girls and 35 boys were given it in 2025 (#14,721 among girls’ names and #3,370 among boys’, #6,491 among all names counting both); 1,050 Americans have been recorded with it since 1980 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,030 Americans named Sully and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 8 and 28.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sully by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sully mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sully is “a diminutive of the male given name Sullivan.”
/ˈsʌli/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sully?
#3,370 among boys’ names, 2025
Sully rose from #5,479 in 2015 to #3,370 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 8.9 to 20.5 per million.
47 babies in 2011, the peak
Sully peaked in 2011, when 47 babies were given it (42 boys, #2,842 among boys’ names). The 41 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 87% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #14,721 | 35 | #3,370 |
| 2024 | 5 | #17,389 | 32 | #3,592 |
| 2023 | 5 | #17,325 | 27 | #4,099 |
| 2022 | 9 | #11,139 | 17 | #5,601 |
| 2021 | 8 | #12,069 | 31 | #3,635 |
| 2020 | 9 | #10,981 | 21 | #4,675 |
| 2019 | 8 | #12,320 | 21 | #4,781 |
| 2018 | 9 | #11,325 | 25 | #4,199 |
| 2017 | 12 | #9,282 | 21 | #4,722 |
| 2016 | under 5 | 21 | #4,751 |
Every recorded year (45)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 7 | #14,330 | 17 | #5,479 |
| 2014 | 7 | #14,386 | 24 | #4,241 |
| 2013 | 6 | #16,311 | 19 | #4,951 |
| 2012 | under 5 | 34 | #3,287 | |
| 2011 | 5 | #19,231 | 42 | #2,842 |
| 2010 | 11 | #10,379 | 33 | #3,365 |
| 2009 | 7 | #15,048 | 32 | #3,465 |
| 2008 | 5 | #20,103 | 25 | #4,122 |
| 2007 | 5 | #20,195 | 23 | #4,348 |
| 2006 | 8 | #13,468 | 23 | #4,196 |
| 2005 | under 5 | 22 | #4,164 | |
| 2004 | under 5 | 20 | #4,388 | |
| 2003 | under 5 | 18 | #4,590 | |
| 2002 | under 5 | 23 | #3,766 | |
| 2001 | 5 | #17,617 | 15 | #5,099 |
| 2000 | 5 | #17,284 | 9 | #7,317 |
| 1999 | 6 | #14,198 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 11 | #5,782 | |
| 1997 | 6 | #13,501 | 6 | #9,110 |
| 1996 | under 5 | 15 | #4,364 | |
| 1995 | 7 | #11,642 | 7 | #7,689 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 5 | #10,058 | |
| 1993 | 7 | #11,651 | 6 | #8,566 |
| 1992 | 10 | #8,663 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 12 | #7,365 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 21 | #4,671 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 28 | #3,655 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 11 | #7,054 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 18 | #4,639 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 20 | #4,172 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 22 | #3,829 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 40 | #2,412 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 8 | #8,129 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,949 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 7 | #8,960 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Sully a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,050 Americans recorded as Sully, 35% are girls and 65% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Sully: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sully, and how old are they?
1,030 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 1,050 Americans ever recorded as Sully. The median Sully alive today is 16 years old; half are between 8 and 28.
The 2020 Census counted 1,375 people named Sully (657 women and girls, 718 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 842 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 7 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 235 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 394 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 399 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,270 babies since 1880, Sully is the most given (83% of them). In 2025 it was given to 41 of their 41 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Sully
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 Sully and names like it
- Compare Sully and SuloBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sSully peaked in 2011.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sully since 1910.
- The top names of 2011The year the most babies were named Sully.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Sully alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with SMost given first.