Sully Family History

French: habitational name from any of various places, for example in Calvados, Loiret, and Oise. The first of these is recorded in 1180 as Silleium, from the Gallo-Roman personal name Silius or Cilius + the Latin locative suffix -acum. The others are from a personal name Sol(l)ius + -acum. Southern English: of uncertain origin; possibly a habitational name imported from France and so identical with 1, or alternatively a variant of Sulley. It may also be from the parish of Sully in Glamorgan, Wales, so called either from Old Norse sul ‘cleft’ + ey ‘island’ or from the Norman family name de Sulley (as in 1), which is recorded in Glamorgan in the 12th century.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press