Santos

Meaning: Saints; holy ones
Origin: From Spanish, plural of santo (from Latin sanctus)

Boy's name · #766 in the US (2025) · Trending

Popularity over time

Santos is climbing: on the charts since 1880, it is ranked #766 in 2025, with about 340 boys given the name last year. Roughly 19,000 have carried it all-time.

Across the states

In recent years, Santos ran about 6× its national rate in New Mexico.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 22 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Santos ranks in other countries and regions.

#947 in Mexico (2024) · #951 in Ecuador (2025).

Famous Santoses

Santos Iriarte — Uruguayan footballer (1902–1968)
Santos Urdinarán — Uruguayan footballer (1900–1979)
Santos Abril y Castelló — Catholic cardinal
Santos González — Spanish cyclist
Santos Escobar — Mexican professional wrestler

As a surname

It is also an American family name — about 137,000 people carried it as a surname in the 2010 census.

Juan Manuel Santos — President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018
Alessandro Santos — Brazilian-Japanese association football player
Djalma Santos — Brazilian association football player (1929–2013)

In stories & tradition

Santos Luzardo^es — Doña Bárbara (Spanish-language novel)

What Santoses become

Among 203 notable people named Santos:

Political leaders appear 1.69× more often than among typical names — e.g. Santos Gutiérrez, Colombian statesman and soldier (1820–1872).

Similar names: Aurelio · Santiel · Alvaro · Ignacio · Mariano · Vicente

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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