Atticus
/ˈæt.ɪ.kəs/
Atticus is a Latin name derived from the Greek Attikos (Ἀττικός), meaning “from Attica” or “of Attica,” the historical region surrounding Athens.
The name functioned in the Roman world as an honorific epithet for individuals distinguished by Athenian learning, rhetorical polish, or philosophical affiliation.
Attica itself takes its name from Attīké, a word of pre-Greek origin whose further etymology remains debated among classical linguists.
What the name Atticus means
The earliest famous bearer was Titus Pomponius Atticus (110-32 BCE), the Roman financier, publisher, and lifelong correspondent of Cicero.
The surviving Epistulae ad Atticum, a collection of more than 400 letters written by Cicero between 68 and 44 BCE, stands as 1 of the richest prose archives of the late Roman Republic.
A century later, Herodes Atticus, a Greek-born Roman senator and sophist, financed civic monuments across Athens, including the odeon at the southwest slope of the Acropolis, completed around 161 CE.
Modern literary prominence arrived with Atticus Finch, the Alabama lawyer at the center of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Finch in the 1962 film adaptation won the Academy Award for Best Actor and fixed the name in American moral imagination as a byword for quiet integrity.
Atticus first appeared in the U.S. SSA top 1000 in 2004, climbed past number 300 by 2015, and entered the top 200 by 2020.
The trajectory closely mirrors the broader revival of classical Roman names alongside renewed cultural reference to Lee’s novel. The name is rising steadily in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Contemporary bearers include the son of actor Casey Affleck and the pseudonymous poet known as Atticus.
US popularity over time
Numerology and symbolism
Based on Pythagorean numerology — a traditional system linking name letters to numbers. Presented for cultural interest.
Famous people named Atticus
Atticus - similar names
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