Proper name

• SULLA, the name of a patrician family of the Cornelia gens. This family was originally called Rufinus [Rufinus], and the first member of it who obtained the name of Sulla was P. Cornelius Sulla, who was flamen dialis and praetor in the second Punic war. [See below, No. 1.] This was stated by the dictator Sulla, in the second book of his Commentaries (Gell. i. 12), and is corroborated by Livy and other authorities. Plutarch therefore has made a mistake in saying that the dictator Sulla had this name given to him from a personal peculiarity. (Plut. Sull. 2.) The origin of the name is uncertain. Drumann, and most modem writers, suppose that it is a word of the same signification as Rufus or Rufinus, and refers simply to the red colour of the hair or the complexion; and Plutarch appears to have understood the word to have this meaning, since he relates (l. c.) that the dictator received the name of Sulla in consequence of his face being spotted with rough red blotches interspersed with the white. Macrobius (Sat. i. 17) gives quite a different explanation, and derives the word from Sibylla, which he says was given to P. Cornelius Rufinus, because he was the first to introduce the celebration of the Ludi Apollinares in accordance with the commands of the Sibylline books, and that this surname Sibylla was afterwards shortened into Sylla. This explanation of the word is repeated by Charisius (Inst. Gram. i. 20); but, independent of other objections, it must be rejected on the authority of Quintilian (i. 4. §25), who classes Sulla with other cognomens, which owed their origin to certain bodily peculiarities. Some modern writers, such as Cortius (ad Sall. Catil. 5), regard Sulla as a diminutive of Sura, which was a cognomen in several Roman gentes [Sura], and we are disposed to accept this as the most probable explanation of the word. It would be formed from Sura on the same analogy as puella from puera, and tenellus from tener (comp. Schneider, Elementarlehre der lateinischen Sprache, vol. i. p. 47, &c.). There is no authority for writing the word Sylla, as is done by many modern writers. On coins and inscriptions we always find Sula or Sulla, never Sylla. (Wikisource | public domain)
• STEMMA SULLARUM (Wikisource | public domain)

(adjective) : Sulla (less correctly Sylla), ae, m.
* A surname in the gens Cornelia. So, esp.
* L. Cornelius Sulla Felix, the celebrated Roman dictator, Cic. Div. 1, 33, 72; Sall. J. 100, 2; Flor. 3, 21, 5; Vell. 2, 17, 1.—Hence, Sullānus, a, um, , of or belonging to Sulla: tempus,Cic. Par. 6, 2, 46: ager,id. Agr. 2, 26, 70: assignationes,id. ib. 3, 1, 3: proscriptio,Sen. Ira, 2, 34, 3: saeculum,id. ib. 1, 20, 4: partes,Nep. Att. 2: tempora,Plin. 9, 35, 59, § 123. — Subst.: Sullāni, ōrum, m., partisans of Sulla, Cic. Agr. 3, 2, 7.
* L. Cornelius Sulla Faustus, usually called Faustus Sulla, a son of the dictator, Cic. Clu. 34, 94; id. Agr. 1, 4, 12; id. Att. 8, 3, 7 al.
* P. Cornelius Sulla, a relation of the dictator, accused of ambitus, and defended by Cicero in an oration still extant.
* Publius and Servius Sulla, conspirators with Catiline, Sall. C. 17, 3; cf. Cic. Sull. 2, 4.
* An astrologer of the time of Caligula, Suet. Calig. 57.

Male Personal name
Confirmed occurences in the Roman Empire:

• Aemilius Sulla (Masc, senator), ref: AE 1942/43, 1 | PIR ID1054
• Cornelius Sulla (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1458 | PIR ID4988
• L. Cornelius Sulla (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1460 | PIR ID4989
• L. Cornelius Sulla (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1461 | PIR ID4990
• L. Cornelius Sulla (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1462 | PIR ID4991
• Cornelius Sulla Felix (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1463 | PIR ID4992
• L. Cornelius Sulla Felix (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1465 | PIR ID4993
• Faustus Cornelius Sulla (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1459 | PIR ID5821
• Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix (Masc, senator), ref: PIR C 1464 | PIR ID5822
• M. Munatius Sulla Cerialis (Masc, senator), ref: PIR M 0735 | PIR ID9439
• Sextius Sulla (Masc), ref: PIR S1 0476 | PIR ID12435
• Sulla (Masc, senator), ref: PIR S1 0702 (= M 0735) | PIR ID12780
• Sulla (Masc), ref: PIR S1 0703 | PIR ID12781
• Sulla (Masc), ref: Phrynich. eccl. Eclog. 140 (p. 73) Fischer = p. 170 Lob. | PIR ID12782
• Urbanus Sulla Urbanus M. Munatius Sulla Urbanus (Masc, senator), ref: PIR V1 0676 | PIR ID13615
• Urbanus Sulla Urbanus M. Munatius Sulla Urbanus (Masc, senator), ref: PIR V1 0676 | PIR ID13615