Atticus Tops Popular Baby Names List of 2015

Photo: Silver Screen Collection 

by Pamela Redmond Satran

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 baby names 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:

girls’ names

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

boys’ names

  1. Atticus

  2. Asher

  3. Ezra

  4. Silas

  5. Declan

  6. Wyatt

  7. Oliver

  8. Henry

  9. Milo

  10. Jude

  11. Levi

  12. Jasper

  13. Leo

  14. Kai

  15. Jack

  16. Finn

  17. Theodore

  18. Sebastian

  19. Miles

  20. Liam

  21. Austin

  22. Eli

  23. Beckett

  24. Felix

  25. Caleb

  26. William

  27. Ethan

  28. Theo

  29. Benjamin

  30. Andrew

  31. Oscar

  32. Elijah

  33. Thomas

  34. Ryker

  35. Owen

  36. Julian

  37. James

  38. Isaac

  39. Josiah

  40. Sawyer

  41. Zachary

  42. Soren

  43. Bodhi

  44. Axel

  45. Alexander

  46. Jacob

  47. Grayson

  48. Luke

  49. Lachlan

  50. Archer

  51. Emmett

  52. Luca

  53. Lucas

  54. Everett

  55. Beau

  56. Jayden

  57. Ryder

  58. Ronan

  59. Samuel

  60. Harrison

  61. Daniel

  62. Hudson

  63. Roman

  64. Noah

  65. Callum

  66. Charles

  67. Arthur

  68. Gabriel

  69. Dashiell

  70. Maxwell

  71. Jonah

  72. Graham

  73. Charlie

  74. Hugo

  75. Rowan

  76. John

  77. Lincoln

  78. Jackson

  79. Xavier

  80. Knox

  81. Matthew

  82. Weston

  83. August

  84. Griffin

  85. Rhys

  86. Nathaniel

  87. Zane

  88. Simon

  89. Logan

  90. Tobias

  91. George

  92. Nolan

  93. Wesley

  94. Nicholas

  95. Aryan

  96. Maddox

  97. Elliot

  98. Nathan

  99. David

  100. Bennett