To Kill a Mockingbird question

Google is your friend. This has been discussed many times before on the internet - search for "why does Scout call him Atticus". A few links at random:

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/w...

https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...

https://www.quora.com/For-what-reason...

I read somewhere that Harper Lee's father did the same with her. So my guess is that she felt that it hinted at the nature of the relationship between Atticus and his children. There are a few ideas in there: a degree of formality, treating them like equals, encouraging them to think for themselves, not being afraid to do something out of the ordinary.

I don't think you will find one single reason why they called him Atticus. It's multi-layered and complex, just like real people are.

It is interesting. Of course, Will, a child can use a parent's first name for exactly the opposite reason. As you said, it's multi-layered. Many characters (don't ask me to name one, the memory's shot) call one or both parents by their first names as a way of distancing them from the affection of terms like Daddy, Papa, etc. So I believe it can be, in different circumstances, for totally different reasons. There is even a subtle emotional reason, often, for using the formal terms "Father" and "Mother" rather than "Mom" and "Dad"; occasionally it's a satire of social class, and sometimes it is, again, setting boundaries.

Very astute of a reader, I think, to study the range of reasons for familial behaviors such as this one. A misapprehension can totally change one's experience of a book.

My mum always told me it was very rude to call her by her actual name.. so I'm kind of horrified and a amused when I hear a child call their parents by their first names

Personally, if someone calls their parents by the first name, I take it to mean that they think of their parents first as a people other than parents, if that makes sense.

It matters a great deal - I would have called my father "dad" when I was small, but he preferred that I called him "father". It was an authoritarian gesture, and it did put some distance between us.

It's been a while since I read the book, but from Will's reply I take it that it was Atticus who told his childern to call him by his first name. I wonder what effect that could have on the children psychologically. It definitely carries the notion that he doesn't want the children to think of him as a traditional father.

My mom would sock me in the face if I called her by her actual name. Maybe Scout calls her father Atticus, because Atticus wanted her too. Maybe by having someone call him by his name, his grief for his wife was soothed.

I haven't read all the comments but maybe someone has already stated the obvious, in that maybe Atticus isn't bothered that Scout calls him by his christian name. Both me and my brother (we're in our late 40's) have always called our parents by their christian names. And i mean always. We were never told, by either of them, to call them by their names or the titles mam and dad. I've always been amazed by the shock on peoples when the person i'm addressing as John they later realise is my father. It's like we've commited the worse crime imaginable to man. None of us are mentally scarred by any of this, in fact i worked side by side with my father for 20 years. So when i was reading the book it never struck me as wrong or out of place (unusual maybe) that Scout called her father by his name. I've never understood the respect angle either. Surely respect is something to be earned rather than dictated to, regardless of the actions of the one to be respected. Just thought i'd add my two-penneth worth. Oh and we don't call our aunts and uncles aunt or uncle, just by their names too but we did call our grandparents, both sets, nan and grandad.

Even in middle age I rarely called my parents by their Christian names even though my partner did. They were always mum and dad right up to the end. I think it is one of those relics of past formality that persists. I don't think it rude to use Christian names, it just didn't gel when we were encouraged as kids to use Mr and Mrs or sometimes uncle and auntie with my parents' friends.

Translation and Meaning of •archbishop atticus of constantinople (406–425)
in Almaany English-Hindi Dictionary ATTIUS:
From Roman Latin Attilius, possibly meaning "father."

Atticus.

Attcius want to jem and scout friend , so they could talk to him openly