Fun Facts About the Name Electra
- More than 1 thousand babies named Electra: U.S. records list 1,147 babies given the name Electra from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Electra Mean?
Electra comes from the Greek name Ἠλέκτρα (Ēlektra), the feminine form of ἠλέκτωρ (ēlektōr), an adjective meaning "beaming" or "radiant" that early Greek poetry uses of the sun. It is related to ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron), the Greek word for amber, the golden fossil resin; the same word passed into Latin as electrum and eventually gave English "electricity," because rubbed amber produces a static charge. The name's literal sense is therefore "bright" or "shining," and it is often rendered more concretely as "amber."
Electra Name History & Origins
Several figures in Greek myth carry the name. The best known is a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus killed Agamemnon on his return from Troy, Electra helped her brother Orestes avenge their father by killing the pair. Surviving plays by all three Athenian tragedians treat the story: Aeschylus's Choephori (Libation Bearers, from the Oresteia of 458 BC), Sophocles' Electra, and Euripides' Electra. A different Electra is one of the Pleiades, daughters of the Titan Atlas; by Zeus she was the mother of Dardanus, ancestor of the Trojan royal line. A third, an Oceanid daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, is named in Hesiod's Theogony as the mother of Iris and the Harpies.
Because the tragic Electra was so familiar from classical drama, her name was taken up repeatedly in later European literature and music. Richard Strauss's opera Elektra (1909), with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal after Sophocles, and Jean Giraudoux's play Électre (1937) retell the myth; Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (1931) moves the story to New England after the Civil War. The name also underlies the "Electra complex," a term coined by Carl Jung in the 1910s for a daughter's attachment to her father, by analogy with Freud's Oedipus complex.
Electra is also the name of one of the brighter stars in the Pleiades cluster in Taurus, a star name inherited from the mythological Pleiad. The name has been used in a range of modern European languages, including Greek, English, Spanish, Italian (Elettra), and French (Électre), and appears in recent fiction and popular culture, such as the Marvel character Elektra Natchios, introduced in the early 1980s. In English-speaking countries it remains an uncommon given name.
How Popular is the Name Electra?
Electra has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2006. Its best rank was #2,215 in 1910.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #8,000 | 13 | 0.0008% |
| 2024 | #9,068 | 11 | 0.0007% |
| 2023 | #7,748 | 14 | 0.0009% |
| 2022 | #7,061 | 16 | 0.0010% |
| 2021 | #6,238 | 19 | 0.0012% |
| 2020 | #9,754 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2019 | #9,945 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2018 | #6,324 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 2017 | #8,425 | 13 | 0.0008% |
| 2016 | #9,597 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2015 | #7,068 | 17 | 0.0010% |
| 2014 | #8,606 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2013 | #6,815 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 2012 | #7,935 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2011 | #7,907 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2010 | #6,723 | 19 | 0.0011% |
| 2009 | #6,169 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 2008 | #7,509 | 17 | 0.0009% |
| 2007 | #5,574 | 25 | 0.0013% |
| 2006 | #4,286 | 34 | 0.0018% |
| 2005 | #4,402 | 31 | 0.0017% |
| 2004 | #4,635 | 29 | 0.0016% |
| 2003 | #5,282 | 23 | 0.0013% |
| 2002 | #4,535 | 27 | 0.0015% |
| 2001 | #4,732 | 25 | 0.0014% |
| 2000 | #6,582 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 1999 | #4,910 | 22 | 0.0012% |
| 1998 | #4,686 | 23 | 0.0013% |
| 1997 | #5,079 | 20 | 0.0011% |
| 1996 | #9,847 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1995 | #7,669 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1994 | #7,766 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1993 | #9,848 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1992 | #8,955 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1991 | #11,936 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1990 | #5,359 | 17 | 0.0009% |
| 1989 | #10,002 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1988 | #6,384 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1987 | #4,525 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 1986 | #7,280 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1985 | #9,654 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1984 | #5,018 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 1983 | #6,866 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1981 | #8,367 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1980 | #5,622 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1979 | #6,329 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1978 | #7,851 | 7 | 0.0005% |
| 1977 | #6,486 | 9 | 0.0006% |
| 1976 | #4,695 | 13 | 0.0009% |
| 1974 | #5,098 | 11 | 0.0007% |
| 1973 | #4,968 | 11 | 0.0008% |
| 1972 | #7,543 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1971 | #4,165 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 1970 | #4,572 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1969 | #7,787 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1967 | #3,241 | 16 | 0.0010% |
| 1965 | #4,954 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1964 | #4,169 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1963 | #5,480 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1962 | #4,632 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1961 | #5,456 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1960 | #4,881 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1959 | #4,387 | 9 | 0.0004% |
| 1958 | #5,606 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1957 | #5,042 | 7 | 0.0003% |
| 1956 | #6,217 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1955 | #5,370 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1954 | #4,383 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1953 | #5,913 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1952 | #5,800 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1951 | #5,006 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1949 | #4,835 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1948 | #4,308 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1938 | #3,571 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1936 | #4,381 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1935 | #4,397 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1934 | #4,453 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1933 | #2,736 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1932 | #2,880 | 10 | 0.0009% |
| 1931 | #3,588 | 7 | 0.0007% |
| 1930 | #3,766 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1929 | #3,209 | 9 | 0.0008% |
| 1928 | #4,918 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1927 | #3,119 | 10 | 0.0008% |
| 1926 | #3,104 | 10 | 0.0008% |
| 1925 | #4,136 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1924 | #4,627 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1923 | #4,087 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1922 | #3,016 | 11 | 0.0009% |
| 1921 | #2,819 | 12 | 0.0010% |
| 1920 | #4,092 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1919 | #5,016 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1918 | #4,432 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1917 | #2,601 | 12 | 0.0011% |
| 1916 | #2,885 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1915 | #2,582 | 11 | 0.0011% |
| 1913 | #2,924 | 6 | 0.0010% |
| 1912 | #2,730 | 6 | 0.0011% |
| 1910 | #2,215 | 6 | 0.0015% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Electra Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You are fine when in harmony but changeable when in discord, because many of your best qualities are then reversed. You are entertaining but may be impulsive. Freedom is a necessity, and you find it difficult to settle down. Your versatility results in many changes, and often brings travel. Your fine intellect is capable of high honors if applied seriously. You are capable of inspired thinking applied to material things. You can be restless, changeable, and very sexy. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily.
You are always looking for a chance to do your own thing, to be your own person, and to have things done your own way.
✦ Electra's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Electra's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.