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I like it and see it in the realm of country names.

Sullivan "Sully" is cute. Sullivan is actually one of the only surname-y names that I like. I certainly don't see it as pretentious and while it has a slight trendy vibe, it isn't enough to worry about imo.

No, I don't think it sounds pretentious. Yes, I do think it sounds trendy but not like Mason and Sawyer. More like Marshall, Clark, Tennyson etc. And I love those names. Sullivan is on my long boys list, it might have fluttered around the top ten at one point and I do love the nickname Sully with it.

If it has meaning for you, I think that's cool.

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I feel like Sullivans (and Harpers and Lilys) are all over my social media newsfeeds lately, so I'm kind of tired of it.

Well, it sounds too close to sullen for me, and of course sully means to make dirty. But Sully is very familiar now because of Sully Sullenberger, to whom 150 some people owe their very lives.

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When I was little, there was a pair of Muppets on Sesame Street called Biff and Sully. Biff was the talkative one, and in fact Sully never said a word. The gag was that Sully always managed to very cleverly stick Biff with all the work.

I have a soft spot for Sullivan nn Sully too because of a HS friend (his LN is actually Sullivan and everyone called him Sully). I think it nods to the Mason/Sawyer style somewhat, but since it hasn't caught on as much as other LN's-as-FN's it's not so obnoxious. I don't think it's pretentious. Interestingly I find most Irish LN's-as-FN's unpretentious for the most part (unless there's obvious pretentious connections as with Kennedy). The NN Sully definitely wipes away any pretension that the full name might carry. A woman I work with has a son named Sullivan. I'd probably never use it because I feel weird about using surnames that aren't family names as FN's, but I would support someone else using Sullivan.

I have loved Sullivan for quite a while. For many years I wanted sons named Sullivan (Sully) and Montgomery (Monty). :) I still think that is an adorable sibset.

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I love that Sullivan would have meaning for you, too.

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I think it sounds a bit pretentious, but I like that kind of sound. And no, I don't think it sounds trendy at all.

It's not bad, but it makes me think of the word 'sully', and the blue monster from Monsters, Inc. :D

This message was edited 5/11/2015, 4:49 AM

I really like Sullivan. It doesn't seem trendy at all, to me it's timeless. I'm not so sure about Sully. It's cute for a little boy, but maybe not so much for an adult man.

It is trendy, IMO, in the same vein as Hudson and Cooper and Braxton.
Not pretentious because it does not have the stuffy airs of a name like Remington or Blake. Just, cold and impersonal the way surname names can be - hyperbutch in a way that turns me off. I think it seems that way to me because I relate it to the word sullen (and the word sully which is quite negative), and just don't care for the sound. Also, it's more surnamey than Mason to me because I've never met someone called Sullivan as a first name, or even Sully - I've only seen Sully as a sort of back-slapping sporty nickname for someone with the surname Sullivan. Sully also does have a slightly more pretentious air, like Colby or Brooks. I guess if I had met more than one person with Sullivan as their firstname my image of it would be different. Must be an east coast thing?

This message was edited 5/10/2015, 8:38 PM

LOVE EET.

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I have always loved Sullivan, NN Sully. No, I don't think it's in the same class as Mason or Sawyer (not that that's a BAD thing, really). It has more charm. I approve.

Not bad but does scream surname to me. Or a name of a college, a highschool or some business. Doesn't really fit well as a first or middle name in my book. Not a bad name though