Santino
A masculine Italian name meaning "little saint or little saintly one".
Name Census estimates that about 12,418 living Americans carry the first name Santino. It sits at #362 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Santino today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Santino births was 2024 (908 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Santino. 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 Santino with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Santino 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
12K
~ 1 in 27,601 Americans
Peak year
2024
908 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#362
Tracked since 1913
Census
Santino in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,665 people with the first name Santino, which placed it at #2,944 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
#2,944
National first-name rank
People counted
7.7K
7,665 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
45.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Santino
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Santino is Hispanic at 45.9%. The next largest groups are White (41.3%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Santino 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 Santino at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino45.9% · 3,515
- White41.3% · 3,168
- Black or African American5.5% · 421
- Two or more races4.6% · 349
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 155
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 57
Popularity
Santino: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Santino from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,394 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
Santino 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 Santino during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Santinos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. California, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Santino, while West Virginia, South Carolina, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 326 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Santino
The name Santino originated from the Italian language and culture. It is a diminutive form of the name Santo, which means "saint" in Italian. The name Santino itself can be translated to mean "little saint" or "little holy one."
The name has its roots in the Christian tradition, as many Italian names were derived from religious figures or concepts. It was particularly popular during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period in Italy, when the veneration of saints was widespread.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Santino can be found in the 13th century. Santino da Padova, born around 1230, was an Italian Franciscan friar and preacher who was known for his devotion to the Virgin Mary.
Another notable figure with the name Santino was Santino Solari, an Italian architect and sculptor who lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He was responsible for the design and construction of several churches and buildings in Milan, including the Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso.
In the 16th century, Santino Campione, an Italian painter from the Mannerist period, gained recognition for his religious works and frescoes in churches throughout Italy.
Santino Marella, born on December 14, 1977, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He was a member of the famous Marella wrestling family and held several titles during his career.
Santino Fontana, born on March 21, 1982, is an American actor and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway productions, including the lead role in the musical "Tootsie." He is also known for voicing the character of Prince Hans in the animated film "Frozen."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Santino, reflecting its long-standing presence in Italian culture and its association with religious and artistic figures.
People
Santino + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Santino 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
Santino: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Santino?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,418 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Santino 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 27,601 US residents.
Is Santino a common name?
We classify Santino as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,683 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Santino most popular?
The single biggest year for Santino was 2024, when 908 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Santino 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 Santino in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,665 people with the name Santino, or 2.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,944 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 Santino 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 Santino?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Santino appears almost entirely male. Of the 7,673 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 Santino?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Santino is Hispanic at 45.9%. The next largest groups are White (41.3%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Santino most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Santino in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.9% (3,515 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 Santino in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Santino a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Santino 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 Santino still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Santino 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 Santino 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 are named Santino?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.