Ata, "father," the source of Attalik, "father-like" or "paternal," is to the present day a title among the Usbeks of Bokhara. (History of Christian Names, Yonge, 1884) 

This was the name of a celebrated king of the Huns, who invaded the Roman empire in the reign of Valentinian, with an army of half a million men.  He laid waste to provinces, and marched on Rome, but retreated on being paid a large sum of money.  He called himself the "Scourge of God," and died A.D. 453, of an effusion of blood, on the night of his marriage. (Ellis)