What is Sullivan?

Question:Is the last name Sullivan...
of Portuguese or Irish decent,
or both?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Is the last name Sullivan...
of Portuguese or Irish decent,
or both?

Sullivan is the English version of the ancient Irish 'ó Súilleabháin '. It is definately of Irish roots but several families of Portuguese origin also share the name as a lot of Irish refugees went to Iberia in the 17/18th centuries to flee the English/Dutch who they had angered over the years

Sullivan is definitely Irish. Yes, people in the Iberian peninsula might have Irish names as many Irish fled there because of severe persecution by a foreign country that governed them.

This ia what www.ancestry.com has to say about the name.
Sullivan Name Meaning and History
Irish: reduced form of O’Sullivan, an Anglicized form of Gaelic ó Súileabháin ‘descendant of Súileabhán’, a personal name composed of the elements súil ‘eye’ + dubh ‘black’, ‘dark’ + the diminutive suffix -án.
Hope this helps.

Irish