The name electron comes from the Greek word for amber. This material played an essential role in the discovery of electrical phenomena. The ancient Greeks knew, for example, that rubbing a piece of amber with fur left an electric charge on its surface, which could then create arcs of electric current to a grounded object. For more about the history of the term electricity, see History of electricity.

The electron as a unit of charge in electrochemistry was posited by G. Johnstone Stoney in 1874, who also coined the term electron in 1894. (c) Wikipedia