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 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:

　　[column1]

　　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]

　　Atticus

　　Asher

　　Ezra

　　Silas

　　Declan

　　Wyatt

　　Oliver

　　Henry

　　Milo

　　Jude

　　Levi

　　Jasper

　　Leo

　　Kai

　　Jack

　　Finn

　　Theodore

　　Sebastian

　　Miles

　　Liam

　　Austin

　　Eli

　　Beckett

　　Felix

　　Caleb

　　William

　　Ethan

　　Theo

　　Benjamin

　　Andrew

　　Oscar

　　Elijah

　　Thomas

　　Ryker

　　Owen

　　Julian

　　James

　　Isaac

　　Josiah

　　Sawyer

　　Zachary

　　Soren

　　Bodhi

　　Axel

　　Alexander

　　Jacob

　　Grayson

　　Luke

　　Lachlan

　　Archer

　　Emmett

　　Luca

　　Lucas

　　Everett

　　Beau

　　Jayden

　　Ryder

　　Ronan

　　Samuel

　　Harrison

　　Daniel

　　Hudson

　　Roman

　　Noah

　　Callum

　　Charles

　　Arthur

　　Gabriel

　　Dashiell

　　Maxwell

　　Jonah

　　Graham

　　Charlie

　　Hugo

　　Rowan

　　John

　　Lincoln

　　Jackson

　　Xavier

　　Knox

　　Matthew

　　Weston

　　August

　　Griffin

　　Rhys

　　Nathaniel

　　Zane

　　Simon

　　Logan

　　Tobias

　　George

　　Nolan

　　Wesley

　　Nicholas

　　Aryan

　　Maddox

　　Elliot

　　Nathan

　　David

　　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.