Elecia
A feminine name derived from Greek elements, meaning "radiant, bright".
Name Census estimates that about 485 living Americans carry the first name Elecia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elecia today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elecia births was 1980 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elecia. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Elecia with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
485
~ 1 in 706,710 Americans
Peak year
1980
20 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2017 SSA rank
#16,560
Tracked since 1954
Census
Elecia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 521 people with the first name Elecia, which placed it at #19,995 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
#19,995
National first-name rank
People counted
521
521 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elecia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elecia is Black at 44.1%. The next largest groups are White (34.2%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Elecia 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 Elecia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.1% · 230
- White34.2% · 178
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 68
- Two or more races3.8% · 20
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 9
Popularity
Elecia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elecia from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 124 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elecia 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 Elecia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elecias live
Origin
Meaning and history of Elecia
The name Elecia has its origins in ancient Greece, where it was derived from the Greek word "eleios," meaning "compassionate" or "merciful." This name was likely first used during the classical period of ancient Greek civilization, which spanned from the 5th to the 4th century BCE.
Elecia was a relatively uncommon name in ancient Greece, but it did appear in a few historical records and literary works from that time period. One notable example is a reference to an Elecia in Plutarch's "Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans," a collection of biographies written in the 1st century CE.
The name Elecia made its way into the Roman world as well, where it was Latinized to "Elécia." It was occasionally used by Roman families, particularly those with Greek ancestry or cultural ties. However, records of individuals with this name from ancient Rome are scarce.
During the Middle Ages, the name Elecia fell out of widespread use, but it did not disappear entirely. It was occasionally found in various regions of Europe, particularly in areas with strong Greek or Roman cultural influences. One notable bearer of this name was Elecia of Auxerre, a French nun and abbess who lived in the 9th century CE.
As the Renaissance period dawned in Europe, the name Elecia experienced a minor resurgence, particularly among intellectuals and scholars who were rediscovering and appreciating classical Greek and Roman culture. One example from this era is Elecia Bassa, an Italian poet and writer who lived in the 16th century.
In the 19th century, the name Elecia gained some popularity in certain parts of Europe, particularly in Greece and countries with significant Greek populations. One notable figure from this time was Elecia Pappas, a Greek educator and feminist activist who worked to improve educational opportunities for women in the late 19th century.
Throughout its long history, the name Elecia has been borne by various individuals across different cultures and time periods, although it has never been a particularly common name. Some other notable individuals with this name include Elecia Naomi, a 20th-century American artist and sculptor, and Elecia Menzies, a contemporary British author and journalist.
People
Elecia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elecia 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
Elecia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elecia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 485 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elecia 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 706,710 US residents.
Is Elecia a common name?
We classify Elecia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 526 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elecia most popular?
The single biggest year for Elecia was 1980, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elecia is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elecia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 521 people with the name Elecia, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,995 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 Elecia 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 Elecia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elecia appears almost entirely female. Of the 521 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Elecia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elecia is Black at 44.1%. The next largest groups are White (34.2%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Elecia most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Elecia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.1% (230 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 Elecia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elecia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elecia 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 Elecia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elecia 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 Elecia 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 people have Elecia as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Elecia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.