Santos
Feminine · “saints”
Santos is given to both — 2,759 girls and 18,814 boys since 1880. See Santos as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Santos is a plural, and the plural is the point. It does not mean a saint but all of them at once — the feast of All Saints, which in Spanish is Todos los Santos, and which is what a child given this name is named for.
How old is the name Santos?
Santos first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Santos alive today was born around 1934, making them about 91 years old. About 1,100 people named Santos are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Santos most popular?
Santos peaked in 1924, reaching #736 nationally. See the whole 1924 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sanctus to Santos
The story of Santos
Catholic naming in Spain and Latin America draws on feasts as readily as on saints, and the feast names behave differently from the personal ones: Natividad for the Nativity, Concepcion for the Immaculate Conception, Asuncion for the Assumption, Santos for All Saints. A child born on or near the day might be given it, and it is used for both sexes in some regions. It is also a very common surname, which means a Santos Santos is entirely possible and not unusual. The record carries it in America from the first year of the count, concentrated where Spanish-speaking families settled.
Meaning
saints
The Spanish and Portuguese plural of santo. As a given name it refers to the feast rather than to any individual saint, which is why it is not a name of anybody in particular.
How the name formed
- sanctus
- santo
- Santos
Related forms: Santos · Santo · Santiago
Pronouncing Santos
SAHN-tohs
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Spanish says it the same way; American English often adds a z sound at the end.
Nicknames for Santos
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 1924100 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #736reached in 1924
- Change vs 2006
- 0.0%5 in 2008, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Santos in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Santos in Portuguese — same name
- Santo in Italian — related form
- Santiago in Spanish — related form
Santoss among us
people named Santos are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Santos sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is instantly recognized across the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world.
- The meaning is settled and the reference is a fixed date in the calendar.
- Every sound in it is easy for an English speaker.
- It is also one of the commonest surnames in the Spanish-speaking world.
- It reads as a devotional name, which carries a religious assumption some families may not want.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
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Santos
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Santoss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Santos are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Santos in 2025?
- Santos is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Santos with classmates?
- Santos will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Santos? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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