Santoria
Feminine name of unknown origin, possibly derived from a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 108 living Americans carry the first name Santoria. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Santoria today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Santoria births was 1987 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Santoria. 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.
People living today
108
~ 1 in 3,173,651 Americans
Peak year
1987
13 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2003 SSA rank
#17,890
Tracked since 1978
Census
Santoria in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Santoria, which placed it at #43,191 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
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
93.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Santoria
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Santoria is Black at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and Hispanic (1.8%). 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 Santoria 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 Santoria at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American93.9% · 154
- Two or more races3.0% · 5
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 3
- White1.2% · 2
Popularity
Santoria: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Santoria from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Santoria 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 Santoria during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Santoria
The name Santoria finds its roots in ancient Greece, originating from the Greek word "santor," which means "saint" or "holy one." It is believed to have first emerged during the Byzantine era, around the 4th to 6th centuries AD, when Christianity was spreading throughout the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Santoria can be found in a Greek manuscript from the 9th century, which mentions a monk named Santoria who lived in a monastery on the island of Patmos. This manuscript is now housed in the Vatican Library.
In the 11th century, a noblewoman named Santoria is mentioned in historical records from the Kingdom of Aragon, in what is now modern-day Spain. She was known for her philanthropic work and her devotion to the Catholic Church.
During the Renaissance period, a famous Italian painter named Santoria Veneziano was born in 1490 in Venice. She was renowned for her portraits of wealthy patrons and her religious paintings, which adorned many churches throughout Italy.
In the 17th century, Santoria Berendsohn was a German composer and organist who lived from 1620 to 1672. She is credited with composing several sacred choral works that were performed in churches across Germany.
Another notable figure with the name Santoria was a French physician and botanist named Santoria Delacroix, who lived from 1738 to 1812. She made significant contributions to the study of medicinal plants and published several influential works on herbal remedies.
While the name Santoria is relatively rare today, it carries a rich history and a deep connection to the religious and cultural traditions of ancient Greece and Europe. Its association with saints, nobility, and scholars throughout the centuries has imbued it with a sense of reverence and intellectual curiosity.
People
Santoria + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Santoria as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Santoria: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Santoria?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 108 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Santoria 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 3,173,651 US residents.
Is Santoria a common name?
We classify Santoria as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 113 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Santoria most popular?
The single biggest year for Santoria was 1987, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Santoria is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Santoria in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Santoria, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 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 Santoria 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 Santoria?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Santoria leans strongly female. 155 people counted with this name were female (95.1%), compared with 8 male bearers (4.9%). 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 Santoria?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Santoria is Black at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.0%) and Hispanic (1.8%). 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 Santoria most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Santoria in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.9% (154 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 Santoria in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Santoria a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Santoria 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 Santoria still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Santoria 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 Santoria 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 the name Santoria?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Santoria at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.