Find out how popular the last name Sotos is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Sotos.

Sotos, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Sotos surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Sotos in America

Sotos is the 59017th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Sotos surname appeared 343 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Sotos.

We can also compare 2010 data for Sotos to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Sotos

The surname "Sotos" has its origins in Spain, where it first appeared in the medieval period. The name is derived from the Spanish word "soto," which means a grove or thicket of trees. It likely referred to someone who lived near or owned a wooded area.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname can be found in medieval Spanish records and documents, such as the Cartularios de Valpuesta from the 10th century. In these records, the name is sometimes spelled as "Soto" or "Sotta," reflecting the variations in spelling that were common during that era.

One of the earliest known individuals with the surname was Sancho Sotos, a nobleman who lived in the Kingdom of Castile in the 12th century. He was mentioned in the Becerro de las Behetrías, a medieval census of landowners and their properties, compiled in 1352.

In the 15th century, the surname appears in the records of the Spanish Inquisition, with individuals such as Juan Sotos de Ribera, a merchant from Seville, being mentioned in the trials. This suggests that the name was well-established in various parts of Spain by that time.

As the Spanish Empire expanded, the surname spread to other parts of the world, including the Americas. One notable figure was Domingo de Sotos, a Spanish Franciscan friar who accompanied Hernán Cortés on his expedition to Mexico in the early 16th century.

Another prominent individual with the surname was Rodrigo de Sotos, a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquest of New Granada (present-day Colombia and Panama) in the 16th century. He was appointed as the first governor of the province of Antioquía in 1541.

In the 17th century, the name appears in connection with various place names in Spain, such as Sotos de Sepúlveda, a village in the province of Segovia, and Sotos de Cuéllar, a municipality in the province of Valladolid.

As the centuries passed, the Sotos surname continued to be well-represented in Spain and its former colonies, with individuals such as Pedro Sotos, a Spanish painter active in the late 18th century, and Antonio Sotos, a Mexican revolutionary who fought alongside Emiliano Zapata in the early 20th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Sotos

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Sotos.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Sotos was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Sotos has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Sotos was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Sotos, please contact us.

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