Sullivan nn Sully??

[anotherlittlesquish]

Hi everyone!

We are due our 2nd baby boy in a few weeks and are struggling to name him.

His older brother is Tobias (Toby) and we’re leaning towards Sullivan (Sully). I really like Sullivan but I’m not sure I’m as keen on the inevitable nn of Sully.

Other names were considering are:

Sonny
Arthur
Myles
Rupert

What are your thoughts on these names?
Thanks! X

I know an eight year old Sullivan/Sully and he is awesome. I love the name. It's not a common first name and it's so widespread now I don't think it matters if you aren't Irish.

[quote Ginandplatonic]**@Wordleone* I don't love the cultural appropriation of Irish names by the non-Irish*

I see this sort of statement all the time on here and I don’t really understand it - I’m Australian, born here as were my parents and grandparents. So what names am I allowed to use in your opinion?[/quote]

Good point!

I don’t really like Sullivan, sorry. It’s very different from Tobias/Toby so I don’t think they go very well together. I think Arthur or Myles from your list are much nicer and go much better with your other child’s name. I’m not keen on Sonny or Rupert.

@Goooglebox

I do wonder why Irish surnames are so popular as first names.

Because many other people have Irish ancestry.

Does it even matter? Names are international. You don't have to be from somewhere to use a name. Everyone bangs on about names like Sylvie and Élodie without having a drop of French blood.

I far prefer the other names on your list also the verb to sully means to dirty something.

Rooney Mara is from the Rooney family a really well known Irish American family who own the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I always think with these threads that if you have to ask then you're probably not sure.
I think pre-ordained nicknames are silly and a bit try hard, so quite apart from the fact Sully is an unpleasant verb, I'm not a fan

I really love it but couldn't convince my other half we also considered Sonny. Went for Dexter in the end

Im in Ireland, there was a lady on the radio earlier whose children were Logan, Sullivan and Flynn.

@garlictwist IMO there is a difference between choosing a first name from another culture and using a surname from another culture. Surnames pass down through families and have cultural and national significance. First or given names have always been much more fluid.

It is interesting to me how it seems to be Irish surnames that are “trendy” as first names but I suspect it highly unlikely that parents would choose to call their child Lopez, lopey for short, or Sokolov known as “socky”…why is that?

Oh and FYI OP, my Sullivan was named because I had a MASSIVE crush on Sullivan Stapleton and was watching a lot of Strike Back when pregnant.

He’s an Australian actor. DH loved the name, I loved the name, we went with it.

You don’t need to ask what other people think because their opinion has no bearings on your life. Not one person has ever met my Sullivan (here or in the UK) who has commented negatively.

We’ve branched out considerably from the Victorian naming conventions and that’s a good thing! Crack on and use it if you love it, it’s a brilliant name!

My parents were both Irish born and my husband does have some Irish ancestry as well. I ruled out some Irish names I would have used for my children because they had become so ubiquitous in my country. That might be unreasonable on my part. There's a shortage of Irish names that are attractive (to me) and easy to spell and pronounce. I think Niamh is lovely for example but I thought they'd have a lifetime of mangled pronunciation and having to spell both their first name and their surname. Though I suppose you could say my Irish family appropriated English names as well though family members might have had an English name but were known informally by the Irish version of that name. So for example somebody might have been called Mary but would have been known as Máire. My family comes from a Gaeltacht area and my mother's family did not even speak English at home. I guess if somebody wants to call their child Sullivan it's not much to do with me but I would have thought people would want to honour their own cultural heritage.

I’ve personally never commented negatively on anyone’s name in real life because what on earth would be the point other than being nasty. But I’ve definitely internally judged certain name choices and if someone is asking about a name before the baby is here then it’s probably because they do care what people will think, even if they never say it.

I’ll am irish, I don’t know if I like it or not as a surname - but do know it means “suil abhainn” which means “one eye” which I think is a great quirk!! All Irish names are irish words ran together and anglicised and have a good story behind them

I just think of the monster from monsters inc so it’s a no from me

Long ago there was a newsreader in Northern Ireland called Sullivan Boomer. Which is a splendid name.

To sully something means to damage it's purity or integrity.
No. Just no.

Solomon nn Solly / Sol is much better imo.

Love it.

Alrternatives Solomon or Donovon?

Sonny or Sunny are also nice boy names.

I love it.

Love Sully !

@Rossnagoose no one would seriously call their baby Cavan would they?!

No I wouldn't use Sullivan as a baby name. But I am Irish and it is a very common/ known surname here

My mums friend had American relations who visited, and then went on to have a baby called Carrick, after Carrickfergus.

I considered it briefly as a middle name for ds but only because it is my maiden surname. I’m Welsh but have mainly Irish ancestry on my dad’s side.

It’s a relatively common Irish surname in the part of South Wales where I live, along with a couple of other Irish surnames but then we had a large Irish community who settled here to work.

Anyway, I think it’s odd as a first name and don’t really understand why someone without Irish heritage or a connection to the name would want to use it.