Meaning and background
The story behind Sullivan
Sullivan comes from the Irish surname Ó Súileabháin, linked to a personal name containing a word for “eye”. Its full interpretation is disputed: “one-eyed”, “hawk-eyed” and “dark-eyed” have all been proposed. Keeping that uncertainty visible is preferable to presenting one romantic meaning as established. Sullivan also shortens naturally to Sully.
- Origin
- Anglicised form of Irish Ó Súileabháin; the interpretation of its underlying personal-name elements is disputed. Source
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About Sullivan
Recorded as a dog’s name
Sullivan appears in 17 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/sʌləvən/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
Other dictionary readings and notation
/sʌləvən/ · primary stress on syllable 1S AH1 L AH0 V AH0 N
/sʌlɪvən/ · primary stress on syllable 1S AH1 L IH0 V AH0 N
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.