Ecko
A unique spin on the name Echo, of Greek origin meaning "reverberation".
Name Census estimates that about 123 living Americans carry the first name Ecko. It is a predominantly female name (91.2% of registrations). The average person named Ecko today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ecko births was 2006 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ecko. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
123
~ 1 in 2,786,621 Americans
Peak year
2006
11 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2016 SSA rank
#11,102
Tracked since 1983
Census
Ecko in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 175 people with the first name Ecko, which placed it at #41,669 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#41,669
National first-name rank
People counted
175
175 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ecko
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ecko is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.6%) and Black (8.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ecko described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ecko at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.9% · 103
- Hispanic or Latino16.6% · 29
- Black or African American8.6% · 15
- Two or more races8.6% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.1% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Ecko
Ecko leans heavily female at 91.2% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ecko as a male name
- Ranked #11,102 in 2016
- 6 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2016 (6 births)
Ecko as a female name
- Ranked #14,045 in 2022
- 6 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2006 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ecko leans strongly female. 141 people counted with this name were female (80.1%), compared with 35 male bearers (19.9%).
Popularity
Ecko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ecko from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 57 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ecko by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ecko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ecko
The name Ecko is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, with roots tracing back to the Viking era between the 8th and 11th centuries. It is likely derived from the Old Norse word "ekkja," which means "widow" or "unmarried woman." This connection suggests that the name may have been given to children born to widowed or unmarried mothers during that time period.
Ecko was not a commonly used name in ancient texts or religious scriptures, but it has been documented in historical records from Scandinavia and other regions influenced by Norse culture. The earliest recorded instance of the name Ecko dates back to the 10th century, when it appeared in the Icelandic Landnámabók, a medieval manuscript detailing the settlement of Iceland.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Ecko. One of the earliest was Ecko Bjarnarson (c. 980 - c. 1050), an Icelandic chieftain and lawspeaker who played a significant role in the establishment of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Another prominent figure was Ecko Thorfinnsson (c. 1015 - c. 1090), a Norse explorer and the first known European to be born in North America, specifically in Vinland (modern-day Newfoundland).
In the 13th century, Ecko Gudmundsson (c. 1210 - c. 1280) was a respected Icelandic scholar and writer who authored several works on Icelandic history and literature. Ecko Arnfinnsson (c. 1350 - c. 1420), a Norwegian merchant and explorer, is credited with establishing a successful trading route between Norway and Greenland during the late 14th century.
More recently, Ecko Magnusson (1920 - 2005) was a Swedish actor and playwright who gained recognition for his roles in several popular Swedish films and television shows in the mid-20th century.
While the name Ecko has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, its historical significance and connection to Norse culture and mythology have made it a fascinating subject for scholars and researchers interested in the origins and evolution of names.
People
Ecko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ecko as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ecko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ecko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 123 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ecko going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,786,621 US residents.
Is Ecko a common name?
We classify Ecko as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 125 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ecko most popular?
The single biggest year for Ecko was 2006, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ecko is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ecko in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 175 people with the name Ecko, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,669 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ecko in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ecko?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ecko leans strongly female. 141 people counted with this name were female (80.1%), compared with 35 male bearers (19.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ecko?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ecko is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.6%) and Black (8.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ecko most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ecko in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.9% (103 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ecko in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ecko a female name?
Yes, 91.2% of people registered as Ecko in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ecko still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ecko in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ecko can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Ecko?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.