Sulli last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Sulli is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Sulli.

Meaning of Sulli

An English surname likely derived from a place name or an occupational surname related to plowing or agriculture.

Sulli, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Sulli surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sulli in America

Sulli is the 90853rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sulli surname appeared 203 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Sulli.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sulli to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 90853 88083 3.10%
Count 203 196 3.51%
Proportion per 100k 0.07 0.07 0.00%

The history of the last name Sulli

The surname SULLI is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic Ó Súilleabháin, which means "descendant of Súilleabhán." The name Súilleabhán is a combination of the Irish words súil, meaning "eye," and leabhán, meaning "little calf." This suggests that the name may have originated as a nickname or descriptive term for someone with a distinctive eye or facial feature.

The SULLI name is particularly associated with County Cork in Ireland, where it was prominent among the Gaelic families of Munster. The name was anglicized to various spellings, including Sullivan, Sullivane, and Sulli, as the English language gained prominence in Ireland.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the SULLI name can be found in the Annals of Inisfallen, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The annals mention a "Súilleabhán Ó Súilleabháin" in the year 1066, suggesting that the name has a long history in Ireland.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, many Irish families bearing the SULLI surname were dispossessed of their lands during the Tudor and Cromwellian conquests of Ireland. Some members of the SULLI clan were among the thousands of Irish soldiers who fled to continental Europe, where they served in the armies of Catholic monarchs and became known as the "Wild Geese."

Notable individuals with the SULLI surname include:

  1. Daniel Sullivan (1844-1924), an Irish-American labor leader and the first president of the American Federation of Labor.
  2. Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), an English composer best known for his collaboration with William S. Gilbert on the famous operettas, including "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The Mikado."
  3. Mary Sullivan (1901-1963), an American actress and singer who performed in several Broadway musicals and Hollywood films.
  4. Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), an American architect and the "father of skyscrapers," known for his influential design principles and works like the Wainwright Building in St. Louis.
  5. John L. Sullivan (1858-1918), an Irish-American boxer who held the heavyweight championship of the world from 1888 to 1892 and was instrumental in the rise of professional boxing in America.

The SULLI surname has a rich history rooted in Irish heritage, with branches extending across the globe due to the diaspora of Irish emigrants over the centuries. Despite its Gaelic origins, the name has been embraced by people of various backgrounds, reflecting the cultural diversity and blending that have shaped many modern societies.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sulli

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Sulli.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Sulli was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.58% 192
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 2.96% 6

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Sulli has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.58% 94.39% 0.20%
Black 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races (S)% (S)% (S)%
Hispanic 2.96% (S)% (S)%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Sulli was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Sulli, please contact us.

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"Sulli last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on May 21, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/sulli-surname-popularity/.

"Sulli last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/sulli-surname-popularity/. Accessed 21 May, 2025

Sulli last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/sulli-surname-popularity/.

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