Atticus, is it too much?

I love it

Wow, I'm surprised how many people lack confidence and feel the need to judge an Atticus or his parents as being 'pretentious' or 'wanky', whatever that means .

I've never read TKAM nor do I feel that I'm pretentious or wanky, but I really like the name Atticus. I think it's cool, strong and interesting. Does that really make me pretentious?

Also, why would Atticus be any more tease worthy than say Alexander, William or Arthur? It's not like Poobear or Willy?!

It's awful.

I like Atticus and believe you should go with what you love. It is a mouthful and it isn't heard of lots in some circles but who cares? So boring hearing the same names over and over again.

@footphobic LOVE your cat! Sorry to completely jump on here but interested to know what your little boy is called?

(May be repeating pp as haven't rtft, but I'm meant to be working...)
I think it's going to become quite popular. I like it too. Lots of children have unusual names in my DC's school and they're not mocked (nice word play, OP!) for their names.

Sorry but to most people it really will appear try hard. Your kid would have that name for life and will definitely not have an easy ride through school.

I quite like it.

I’d agree with Veggy that it’s ironic that accusations of pretentiousness are being levelled at a name which is primarily known for featuring in a novel that even total knuckle-draggers have often been forced to read. If you were considering calling your baby Des Esseintes, the pretentious lobby might have a point.

It’s pretty much the norm these days to choose an unusual name unless you have some kind of family connection/lack confidence.

That's not what the statistics show (or the threads on here where people ask if names are popular). As I said before there's a big middle ground between Jack/Sophie and pretentious.

Fair point, Racecardriver. I think that's a slightly different situation, though.

A thumbs down from me - please don't saddle a child with a name like this unless you want them to have the life teased out of them. What if he doesn't have the self-confidence to cope with it? Sorry, just no.

I think it's nice, but it only has one connotation - TKAMB. (Not so many people have read GSAW and even if they had, Harper Lee never intended it to be published - it wasn't her true view of Atticus -it was an early, abandoned draft novel she was persuaded into signing over when she was old and frail.)
I know a few Scouts and tbh always just think: her parents loved the book, which is what most people will think of that name, until it becomes more commonplace and more Atticuses make their mark on the world.

I know one at primary. Very pretentious family , regarded as loons in our village backwater.
Anyway, yes, the postmans Tw**cus name is used in undertones.

I like it, but it depends how much you want other people to like it?

How about Otis?

@festivedogbone but not everyone can call their kid Sophie. Our kids are mixed with no Western European heritage at all. If we picked a common ‘white’ name it would look a bit try hard, if we chose a name connected to our children’s heritage we’d be making them into a stereotype. Ultimately we chose unusual English names. Every single names comes with a preconception. I would rather have people think we were a bit eccentric than that we were trying to be something that we are not.

I think it’s a lovely name. It was on our list although we didn’t choose it in the end. Wouldn’t be remotely out of place in my sons class which is full of unusual but not made up names. It’s pretty much the norm these days to choose an unusual name unless you have some kind of family connection/lack confidence.

Although, as a caveat to my above post, it maybe depends where you live, as others have said. If it's somewhere where such names are the norm it won't have the same connotations as it will elsewhere, so people might not silently judge.

In the real world, when you haven't deliberately asked people to pull a name apart people just think "oh that's nice/not nice/meh"

I'm not so sure. People might not say that they think a name is try-hard and pretentious, but they will think it. I know it's not a good thing that people judge on these kind of things, and we should all be less judgemental, but it's human nature. And whilst I'm not saying every child should be Jack or Sophie there are a lot of names that are neither super popular or appear to make a statement about how different and special you are (and maybe you're not trying to be different, you just like the name, but as this shows people will make those kind of judgements if you choose an unusual name whether they tell you or not).

Lovely name.
However it's really trendy at the moment. Trendy names tend to end up sounding a bit tacky and they date easily.

You need to consider all possible abbreviations, nicknames it could lead to, then remember that his friends will find one you never thought of! I quite like it but would never have used it.

I know an Atticus - great name :-) Agree though it depends on your situation

What a nice postman you have, sugarpie

The Rottweiler across the lane is called Atticus, he's a mighty fine boy !
The postman refers to him as Tw**ticus, so I wouldn't, kids can be cruel.

@VeggyGravy
Indeed he is. It’s the best part of two feet long and is usually completely vertical.

OP, our youngest dd has an unusual name mainly associated with a very well known person. DH was worried everyone would comment on it. I loved the name and convinced him to stick with it.

The reality is no one ever mentions the famous association and so many people comment what a beautiful name it is.

I don’t agree with the comments that it’s pretentious. I would also advise new parents-to-be not to share planned names ahead of the birth.

If you love it go ahead and use it.

Yuk. Don't call him that.

Also kids don't get picked on because their name could be turned in to a weird word.

Their name gets turned in to a nickname because they are a child who gets picked on.

So a child that is different will have their name picked on (or hair, or disability) but a kid that is conventionally pretty /handsome cool will be fine even if their name rhymes with smelly arse biscuits.