Meaning: “from Attica,” i.e. the Athenian. Atticus is a Latin adjective meaning “belonging to Attica,” the region around Athens. Unlike many names, its meaning isn't disputed: it's transparent Latin, and in Rome it carried a clear flavour of culture and Greek learning.125
Classical origin
A Roman badge of refinement
It began not as a first name but as a Roman cognomen, a byname for someone who had lived in, or loved, Athens. An early bearer was Aulus Manlius Torquatus Atticus, consul in the mid-3rd century BC.1
The name's most famous Roman was Titus Pomponius Atticus (110–32 BC), banker, literary patron and the closest friend and correspondent of Cicero. His scribes copied and circulated Cicero's works, and his deep love of Athens earned him the very byname.1
His surname, Atticus, was probably given him on account of his long residence in Athens and his intimate acquaintance with the Greek language and literature.on Titus Pomponius Atticus, in William Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography (1849) public domain
The modern surge
How one novel revived a 2,000-year-old name
For centuries Atticus stayed scholarly and rare. Its modern rise is tied almost entirely to its appearance as the upright, principled lawyer-father in Harper Lee's 1960 novel, a character who made the name shorthand for moral courage. From the 2000s it climbed quickly into wide use, riding the broader revival of vintage and classical boys' names.3
What it signals · our read, subjective
Parents reach for Atticus when they want a name that reads as cultured, principled and a little bookish, the classical polish and the modern moral association pulling in the same direction.
Popularity over time
From near-zero to a steady climb
2021 · 1,3211,3210
18812025
U.S. · 1881–2025 · counts of people issued a Social Security number, not a full count of births. Live series on the published page.
Effectively unused in the US until the 2000s, Atticus entered the SSA top 1000 in the mid-2000s and has been climbing steadily ever since, a textbook “rediscovered classical” curve.
Usage & existence
How often is Atticus recorded?
18,443
recorded use · U.S. since 1881
Rising
active & growing
~99% boys
gender usage
1881
first appears in the data
Almost all of Atticus's recorded use is recent. It counts recorded uses in US SSA data, not living people. The dataset reaches back to 1880, but Atticus appears only as a scattering of cases before the 2000s and climbs into real use only from then, so its footprint is small but growing fast, not a sign of long continuous use. The living figure above is an estimate built from these records and official life tables: how we estimate it.
Variants & nicknames
Forms & short names
Dataset-linked forms onlyAtticus has no significant separate variant spellings, so we show only nicknames rather than invent forms.
Notable use · compactThe best-documented historical bearer is Titus Pomponius Atticus, Cicero's friend and editor; the name's modern fame comes from its principled fictional lawyer-father in Harper Lee's 1960 novel. (Per the template's evidence rule, a name with too few verified real-world bearers shows this compact note instead of a full bearer grid.)
The honest verdict
Our call · subjective
Literary and serious, and everyone will know where you found it. If you mean the reference, that’s a feature. We’d only warn against it as decoration.
How rare is your Atticus?
See exactly how many share the name in your country and birth year, with real data.
Oxford Dictionary of First Names (Hanks et al.; cited, not reproduced), Atticus from Latin Atticus, “of Attica, Athenian” (the modern-authority backstop for the meaning).
Popularity data
US SSA · England & Wales ONS, SSN-issuance / registration counts in the dataset, not total births.
Meaning is labelled Well established (transparent Latin). Public-domain classical references are cited (paraphrased, not quoted verbatim); modern usage is referenced in our own words; the 1960 novel is cited as fact only, no text reproduced. Bearers fall back to a compact “Notable use” note because there are fewer than three fully-documented real-world bearers, per the template's evidence-threshold rule.