The Future of Atticus

[name_m]Atticus[/name_m] has long been a Nameberry darling. While many of you simply adore the sound or the history, it has undeniable connections to [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] [name_u]Finch[/name_u] of To Kill a Mockingbird. In light of the new, negative portrayal of [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] in [name_u]Harper[/name_u] [name_u]Lee[/name_u]'s newest release, it’s possible that many people will be turned away from the name. What’s the opinion of the Nameberry community? If you loved [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] before, have your feelings changed? If not, why? I’d love to hear your opinions!

We are due this week and [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] is on our short list. I posed your question to my husband and his reply was pretty much “We like the name. [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] [name_u]Finch[/name_u] is a fictional character. Is that really worth changing your kids name over someone that doesn’t even exist? We are considering [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], it’s not like we’re not going to use it, just because there’s a puppet that lives in a garbage can” So for us, who have not read the new book I guess we are willing to look pass the negative connotation for the love of the name.

I’ve never liked the [name_m]Atticus[/name_m], there are much better ancient [name_m]Roman[/name_m]/Latin names out there, but I agree completely with pp’s husband.

@allisonlh I completely agree with your DH

I personally like [name_m]Atticus[/name_m]. I know a few people have shied away from the name due to the new book, I even read of a couple that changed their 18 month old sons name due to the book.

My opinion is if you like the name then don’t worry about it. It’s a fictional character. People are very quick to toss out names because there is 1 small negative thing tied to it (in this case it’s not even a real person so I feel the negative isn’t really a big deal). If you look hard enough you can find lots of negative things for lots of names. Nothing is 100% untainted with some negative somewhere.

That being said I also understand why people are shying away from it some. Many people (from what I’ve seen) solely like the name because of the character. Not necessarily because they love the name, it’s origins, it’s meaning or any of that. They just love the character and grew to love the name because of him. Obviously there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that but I think it gives you a weaker resolve on using the name in light of the new history of [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] [name_u]Finch[/name_u].

I don’t see it dropping off of the charts or anything but it will probably slow down on the climb. Then again, in light of the new book many people who will never read the book will discover the name and fall in love. I’m really interested to see what actually happens with its popularity.

I’m interested to see, too. I do love the name, but when I fell for it, it wasn’t really because of [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] [name_u]Finch[/name_u]. I liked it for the way it looked, the imagery I see (warm, buttery yellow; the texture of grainy old wood; a carpenter shop in the middle of the woods in the south, a strong, good man who likes to work with his hands), the history of an [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] being a good man (there were several philosophers, [name_m]Christian[/name_m] martyrs, etc., that I came across in my research of [name_m]Atticus[/name_m]), and the good that [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] [name_u]Finch[/name_u] had done was just the icing on the cake. I love literature. He was a good character from a very much loved book.

[name_m]Even[/name_m] though [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] [name_u]Finch[/name_u] wasn’t my only consideration when picking the name, I was still concerned that people would have ugly reactions I wouldn’t want a beautiful son of mine to ever have to encounter. I don’t know. I’m still slightly concerned, but I’m far enough away from children that it’s not a huge concern yet, and it’s far enough down my list that I’m not sure it’ll ever get used (although, let’s face it, who knows how my list will look once I actually have a husband to comment on it!). Which gives me time to see how people react to [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] in a couple of years. I want [name_m]Atticus[/name_m] to be cool, to still be loved. I guess we’ll see. I agree that it won’t have a red-hot trajectory upward for sure. I expect it to at the very least to stay where it’s at–maybe even start to fall.