Atticus Tops Baby Names 2015
Atticus makes major baby name news by topping Nameberry’s count of Most Popular Names for the first half of 2015, on the publication day of the new Harper Lee novel casting the inspirational namesake Atticus Finch as a racist.
The ancient Roman boys’ name Atticus, which indicates a person from the region around Athens, first came to notice in the US via Harper Lee‘s 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird and its hero attorney Atticus Finch, played the following year in the movie by Gregory Peck.
But it wasn’t until 25 years later that the name Atticus even registered on the Social Security roster of US baby names, given to a mere nine boys in 1986. Atticus did not appear on the US Top 1000 until 2004, skyrocketing in the decade since then to an official Number 370.
And now Atticus is the Number 1 boys’ name on Nameberry, attracting the most searches by our visitors in the first half of 2015. It trumps Asher, our longtime Number 1, as well as Ezra, another Biblical favorite.
Charlotte is the Number 1 girls’ name on our 2015 half-year count, catapulted to the top by the newborn British princess. In second place for girls is Amelia, Number 1 in England, with US favorite Olivia in third place.
The big question is whether Atticus can retain his popularity as a baby name in the light of the racist, ranting Atticus Finch portrayed in Go Set A Watchman, published today as the long-awaited followup to Mockingbird. In the original book, Atticus Finch is a sensitive single father who defends a black man against a trumped-up charge in a bigoted world, but this heroic image is shattered in the current work. How many baby namers enchanted with the name Atticus will choose the name anyway….or even be aware of the new negative portrayal of the once-saintly Atticus Finch?
To Kill A Mockingbird has been an unlikely influencer of baby names half a century after its publication, with not only Atticus but Harper rising up the popularity list. Harper stands at Number 56 on the 2015 Nameberry list but all the way up at Number 11 on the official US popularity list for girls.
The Nameberry popularity list tallies the most-visited of the nearly 40 million views of our baby name pages since the beginning of 2015. Rather than tracking names given to babies last year as the official US count does, it registers which baby names are attracting the most interest from expectant parents right now — which may translate to popular usage over the coming years.
The Top 100 baby names of 2015 on Nameberry are:
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1. Charlotte
2. Amelia
3. Olivia
4. Isla
5. Ava
6. Violet
7. Cora
8. Eleanor
9. Lucy
10. Penelope
11. Evelyn
12. Adeline
13. Hazel
14. Imogen
15. Aurora
16. Alice
17. Claire
18. Adelaide
19. Elizabeth
20. Arabella
21. Khaleesi
22. Scarlett
23. Emma
24. Rose
25. Evangeline
26. Genevieve
27. Ivy
28. Lila
29. Nora
30. Beatrice
31. Quinn
32. Caroline
33. Eloise
34. Harlow
35. Grace
36. Luna
37. Esme
38. Matilda
39. Aria
40. Aurelia
41. Mia
42. Ella
43. Clara
44. Everly
45. Iris
46. Anna
47. Mae
48. Mila
49. Thea
50. Maeve
51. Isabella
52. Maya
53. Ellie
54. Seraphina
55. Poppy
56. Harper
57. Clementine
58. Emily
59. Sophia
60. Josephine
61. Ruby
62. Jane
63. Isabel
64. Wren
65. Chloe
66. Elodie
67. Hadley
68. Willa
69. Nova
70. Audrey
71. Julia
72. Stella
73. Eden
74. Eliza
75. Juliet
76. Hannah
77. Cordelia
78. Sienna
79. Lydia
80. Olive
81. Piper
82. Evie
83. Lily
84. Sloane
85. Sadie
86. Willow
87. Margaret
88. Emmeline
89. Annabelle
90. Lola
91. Madeline
92. Ada
93. Gemma
94. Eliana
95. Daisy
96. Zoe
97. Emilia
98. Florence
99. Abigail
100.Mabel
[/column1]
[column2]
Bennett[/column2]
And now for our traditional contest: What’s your guess of the Number 101 name for both girls and boys? One choice per gender per guesser please. The winner will get an ebook of the Nameberry Guide to the Very Best Baby Names. This guide contains our 1200+ top baby name picks from the 50,000 choices on Nameberry, including classic names and newly-minted choices, baby names popular in the U.S. along with those collected from around the world.