Meaning of Last Name

Meaning: "grandson of the little dark-eyed one"

Sullivan is a surname of Irish origin. It is essentially the same name as O'Sullivan; both names are Ó Súilleabháin in the original Irish. In the last 200 or 300 years, those families connected to the name have dispersed widely throughout the English-speaking world and to other areas. Ó Súilleabháin (the genitive form of súilleabhán being súilleabháin) probably derives from the Irish Ó which comes from Ua meaning grandson and súildubhán meaning little dark-eyed one, from the Irish súil meaning eye followed by dubh meaning black and the diminutive suffix -án. This is the explanation given by Woulfe in Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall.