Sullivan

There is a lady on Instagram with a son called Sullivan and triplet girls Mallory, Ellis and Cassidy. @Tripletmumof_4

If you have a family name that means a lot, but isn't going to be your child's surname, it's natural to want to keep it by using it as a middle or first name.

If I heard someone in Ireland calling out to a Sullivan or a Murphy or a Delaney etc. I'd just assume they were addressing that person by their surname. I'd be far more likely to think it was a person's first name if I heard it being used in America. I mean, poor Rooney Mara for God's sake...

I think people consider Sullivan an American style name because it's not used as a first name in Ireland. It's exclusively a surname here. The Irish diaspora are much more likely to use it as a first name.

As well as all those common ones other first / surnames I've come across are Crition, Shaw and Hunter, and all those guys are at least 50

No, I don't think that's right. They developed into clan names yes.

It's better than capitals to emphasise. Capitals just look aggressive

No. They started as last names. They were often clan names. Even when people only had one name those names were more akin to surnames. Family names.

@jajajajaja
Duncan and Finlay were first names before they were surnames though. It's the same for Malcolm, Donald, Connor which have also been mentioned as surnames - the surnames were derived from the first names weren't they?

someone's fond of italics

I agree. People seem determined to say that surnames as first names are not something they like but then they go on to list names that are commonly used in America and not here. All the surnames commonly used in the UK as first names don't rile them. I haven't heard anyone who finds Duncan, Finlay, Ross, Lewis etc unpleasant, chavvy or pretentious. They might not choose those names for their dc and some are simply out of favour right now but they don't react to them the way they do to McKenzue, Harrington or Rockwell.

So the point is, surnames as first makes isn't the problem for these people. It's some surnames as first names. In other words some names. They just don't like some names. Like the rest of us. It's nothing to do with being surnames. If it was they would object to all surname first names. .

I have a ds with a surname type name so am not against them but met a sully/Sullivan at a kids group and it was a struggle for people to hear/get his name for some reason. I’d go Parker, Fraser, Solomon rather than this one having seen a (very polite) response to it, sorry.

I've never heard it as a first name only a surname.

I don't think it is...Solamh does sound like Sullivan, but that's the anglicised form of the name. It doesn't sound as much like the original Irish language name, which does contain súil. As @Abhannmor said, that's the part of the name that people are sure of 😁

The who idea of it being American is nuts, where do people think America got their names and customs, lots are from Scotland and Ireland.

I really like it, but you'll be told on here that it's a surname and it's American.

It's a Scottish surname but not typically a first name. I'd say that's one of the American iterations of this type of name. It would be unusual to meet a Scottish man over the age of 40 with the first name Mackenzie but fairly common to meet a child. Fraser, Ross, Duncan, Finlay etc are common in all age ranges as both first names and surnames.

@Tintackedsea , I thought Mackenzie was scottish

Any explanation of the name will have 👀 in it . Súil means eye. That's the only bit we all agree on 😂

I like it, and nn Sully.
I guess it depends on your surname though and whether it sounds like an estate agents/solicitors when put together!

One of my own clients had a baby Sullivan nn Sully. He must be about 4/5 now. Always reminded me of monster inc.

It's a much better explanation than anything with eyes in.

Not for me, I think it sounds like a pirates name 🤷‍♀️

This whole thread has got very heated. I don't know about England so much but in Scotland practically every traditional boys' name is also a surname: Duncan, Malcolm, Finlay, Ross, Lewis, Donald, Stuart etc. I suspect what (MN) folk object to is the popular American sounding ones like Mackenzie. There's a definite MN aversion to Celtic/American names.

@harrietm87 my DS has an Irish surname as a first name & while I'm not Irish I do have Irish ancestry (recent enough to get an Irish passport not 6 generations back) it's an old family name - is that inappropriate cultural appropriation?

OP I like Sullivan but then all the name options we had for DS were family surnames & I'm Scottish so it's not strange to me.

I also have an uncle called Johnson, again an old family name from my great grannie's side.