Santiago
A masculine Spanish given name meaning "Saint James".
Roughly 91,792 people in the United States go by the first name Santiago, which ranks #29 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Santiago today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Santiago births was 2024 (7,407 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Roman (90,942).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Santiago. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Santiago with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Santiago is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 131 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Santiago is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
92K
~ 1 in 3,734 Americans
Peak year
2024
7,407 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#29
Tracked since 1880
Census
Santiago in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 80,841 people with the first name Santiago, which placed it at #654 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
#654
National first-name rank
People counted
81K
80,841 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
26.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
95.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Santiago
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Santiago is Hispanic at 95.5%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Santiago 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 Santiago at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.5% · 77,234
- White2.8% · 2,247
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 724
- Black or African American0.4% · 308
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 201
- Two or more races0.2% · 127
Gender
Gender distribution for Santiago
Out of the 96,363 babies given the name Santiago since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Santiago as a male name
- Ranked #29 in 2024
- 7,407 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (7,407 births)
Santiago as a female name
- Ranked #13,223 in 2023
- 7 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2016 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Santiago appears almost entirely male. Of the 80,841 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Santiago: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Santiago from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 36,496 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Santiago 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 Santiago during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Santiagos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Santiago, while North Dakota, New Hampshire, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,035 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Santiago
The given name Santiago is derived from the Spanish form of the name St. James, which originated from the Latin Sanctus Iacobus. The name can be traced back to the early Christian era and its use spread throughout Europe, particularly in Spain and Portugal.
The name Santiago is closely associated with the apostle St. James the Great, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. According to biblical accounts, St. James was the first apostle to be martyred, and his remains are believed to be buried in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. This association with the apostle contributed to the popularity of the name among Spanish and Portuguese Christians.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Santiago can be found in the Codex Calixtinus, a 12th-century manuscript that describes the life and miracles of St. James. The Codex Calixtinus played a significant role in promoting the cult of St. James and the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, known as the Camino de Santiago.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Santiago. One of the most famous was Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934), a Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906 for his pioneering work on the structure of the nervous system.
Another prominent figure was Santiago Carrillo (1915-2012), a Spanish communist politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1960 to 1982. He played a significant role in the transition to democracy in Spain after the death of Francisco Franco.
In the field of literature, Santiago Nasar was the fictional character and protagonist of Gabriel García Márquez's novel "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (1981), which explored the themes of honor, fate, and the consequences of human actions.
The name Santiago was also borne by several historical figures in Latin America, such as Santiago de León (1672-1755), a Guatemalan politician and military leader who served as the Governor of Guatemala during the 18th century.
Additionally, Santiago Mariño (1788-1854) was a Venezuelan military leader and politician who played a crucial role in the Venezuelan War of Independence against Spanish colonial rule.
While the name Santiago has its roots in Spanish and Portuguese cultures, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in Latin American countries, where it continues to hold cultural and religious significance.
People
Santiago + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Santiago 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
Santiago: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Santiago?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91,792 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Santiago 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 3,734 US residents.
Is Santiago a common name?
We classify Santiago as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96,363 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Santiago most popular?
The single biggest year for Santiago was 2024, when 7,407 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Santiago is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Santiago in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 80,841 people with the name Santiago, or 26.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #654 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 Santiago 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 Santiago?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Santiago appears almost entirely male. Of the 80,841 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Santiago?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Santiago is Hispanic at 95.5%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Santiago most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Santiago in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.5% (77,234 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 Santiago in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Santiago a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Santiago in the SSA data are male. 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 Santiago still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Santiago 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 Santiago 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 Americans are named Santiago?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.