Explore the Family Name Sullen

The meaning of Sullen

English (Middlesex): nickname from Middle English solein(ge), sulayn(e) ‘solitary; sullen’. This surname is now rare in Britain.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Sullen in the United States?

According to the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Sullen underwent a slight decrease over the decade from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Sullen ranked 49,249th in terms of surname prevalence in the United States and had a count of 401, which translates to a proportion of 0.15 per every 100k people. By 2010, the rank dropped to 51,830 while the count remained stable at 401, reducing the proportion to 0.14 per 100k people. This indicates a decline in the name's popularity by 5.24% in rank and a 6.67% drop in its proportion.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#49,249	#51,830	-5.24%
Count	401	401	0%
Proportion per 100k	0.15	0.14	-6.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sullen

The ethnic identity associated with the Sullen surname also saw some shifts between 2000 and 2010 based on data obtained from the Decennial U.S. Census. The majority of those carrying the Sullen surname identify as Black, increasing from 80.3% in 2000 to 87.28% in 2010. Meanwhile, the percentage of those identifying as White decreased significantly from 14.46% to 9.98%. A similar trend was observed for those identifying as of two or more races, decreasing from 2.49% to 1.75%. The proportions of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic went down to zero in 2010. No changes were noted for those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native as the percentage remained at zero for both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	80.3%	87.28%	8.69%
White	14.46%	9.98%	-30.98%
Two or More Races	2.49%	1.75%	-29.72%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.25%	0%	0%
Hispanic	1.5%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%