From Greek mythology, the nymph cursed to repeat others' words by Hera.
Echo comes straight out of ancient Greek myth and language. The Greek word echo means “sound” or “reverberation,” and in classical literature Echo is the mountain nymph whose voice survives after her body fades away. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, she is cursed to repeat only the last words spoken to her, a story that helped turn the name into one of the most vivid examples of a myth becoming an everyday word.
That literary afterlife is unusual: Echo is both a proper name and a common noun, which gives it a double resonance that few names possess. As a personal name, Echo has long felt more poetic than conventional. It was known in antiquity through myth, then resurfaced in later English-speaking culture through literature, music, and a modern taste for names drawn from nature and legend.
Its sound is brief, clear, and memorable, which has helped it feel contemporary despite its classical origins. The name often carries associations with voice, reflection, memory, and the natural world, and it can suggest both delicacy and persistence. Because of its mythological background, Echo also sits alongside other revived antique names that feel imaginative rather than antique. Its perception has shifted from a tragic mythological reference to a distinctive modern choice with artistic, ethereal energy.