The Placenames Branch of the government Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media observed that "the root word is wrapped in a web of uncertainty and lost in the mists of time".

[2] Edmund Hogan's Onomasticon Goedelicum (1910) records the spellings suġ (sugh), suggesting connections to Old Irish súg ("juice, sap").

[3][4][failed verification] The River Suck drains an area of 1,599 square kilometres (617 sq mi).

Together with the Shannon on the east, it creates the long narrow form of southern County Roscommon.

It is designated as a National Waymarked Trail by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council and is managed by Roscommon County Council, Roscommon Integrated Development Company and the Suck Valley Committee.