Name of the Week: Atticus

Origin:

Atticus is a Roman cognomen meaning "from Attica". Attica was the ancient region that encompassed the city of Athens. Its etymology is not clear but most likely it shares its origins with Athens itself, and therefore ultimately derives from the city's patron, Athene, goddess of wisdom and war.  Cognomen denoting a person's place of origin were not uncommon and survive in the names Lydia, Luke, Sebastian, Alban, Laurence, (H)adrian and many others.

Usage:

Atticus was a fairly common cognomen in the Roman world. Famous examples include philosophers Titus Pomponius Atticus (112–32 BC) and Herodes Atticus (101–177), and later figures in the Christian Empire such as Archbishop Atticus of Constantinople (406–425) and a 4th-century Christian martyr.  As Atticus did not feature in the New Testament, like many other Latin names, it fell out of use in the Middle Ages across Europe. It was revived in the 16th century, especially around Bottesford in Leicestershire.  However, the name was always rare in use. In fact, there are no records for Atticus as a first name at all in the England and Wales Birth Index from 1838 to 1963. Be wary of 19th-century census records on Ancestry: an examination of the original records show that most are mistranscriptions of 'Arthur'.  The first use of Atticus in 1964 coincides with the release of the film To Kill A Mockingbird, released in 1963 in Britain, starring Gregory Peck as lawyer Atticus Finch. This was based on Harper Lee's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name.  Even with the film's success, Atticus was still a very rare name, only coming into regular yearly use by the late 1990s.  Atticus saw a small increase in use in 2003 in England and Wales when it moved from #3225 with 3 births to #1513 with 10 births.  It entered the top 1000 in 2010 at #942 (30 births) and, to date, peaked at #451 with 93 births in 2017.  In this year, regional data shows that Atticus was most common in the East of England, Wales and the South, excepting London: N. East N. West Yorkshire E. Midlands W. Midlands East London S. East S. West Wales --  #522 #533 #494 #441  #323  #597  #375  #362  #345 In 2018, Atticus ranked #471 with 86 births in England and Wales and #516 with 5 births in Scotland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Titus Pomponius Atticus (112–32 BC), ancient Roman philosopher, and correspondent with Cicero. * Herodes Atticus (101–177), Greek rhetorician and philosopher. * Atticus (fl. c. 175), Platonist philosopher. * Atticus (d. 310), Christian martyr. * Atticus of Constantinople (406–425), Archbishop of Constantinople. * Atticus Greene Haygood (1839–1896), Methodist bishop and president of Emory University. Contemporary: * Atticus Ross (born 1968), British musician. * Atticus Browne (born 1991), West Indian cricketer. * Atticus Mitchell (born 1993), Canadian actor and musician. * Atticus Shaffer (born 1998), American actor. Literature and Other Media: * Atticus, a character in Cicero's De Legibus. * Atticus Finch, the central character in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. * Atticus Aldridge, a character in Downton Abbey. * Atticus Cody, the title character in Atticus by Ron Hansen. * Atticus Fetch, a character in the television series Californication. * Atticus Kodiak, a character in novels by Greg Rucka.

Variants:

Attikos (Ancient Greek)

Pronunciation:

AT-i-kəs [key]

Possible diminutives:

Atty, Gus

Sibling Names:

Verity     Romilly     Livia     Evangeline     Sylvie     Octavia Rafferty     Elias     Benedict     Maxim     Sullivan     Josiah

Name Lists:

Vintage Names   Resonant Roman

 

If you like Atticus you may also like:   Atlas, Darius, Orion, Evander, Magnus, Ezekiel, Solomon, Caspian, Lysander, Everett

Thanks to Alice for requesting this name.