Sulla.

Uncertain. It likely referred originally to a personal physical characteristic, like many Latin cognomina: Quintilian (Institutio Oratoria 1.4.25.3) gives it as an example of a name with this kind of etymology (along with Burrus, Galba, Plautus, Pānsa, Scaurus). If the vowel was long, the form would be consistent with derivation from sūra (“calf of the leg”) + -la (diminutive suffix) (making it equivalent to *sūrula); compare Sūra (agnomen and cognomen). An alternative modern proposal is that it comes from suīlla (carō) 'pork (meat)'. Plutarch interprets Lucius Cornelius Sulla's cognomen as a reference to his facial complexion (although it was already a traditional name in his family).