Santiago

What Santiago means

Spanish form of James, meaning “May He Heel”

a male given name, equivalent to English James || The English New Testament form of Jacob, from Middle English James, from Old French James, from Vulgar Latin Iācōmus, spoken and altered pronunciation of Latin Iācōbus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Ἰακώβ (Iakṓb), from Biblical

Source: Wiktionary, “Santiago” (revision 93487617) and “James” (revision 94540466), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Santiago?

US: Rising: up from #127 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #410 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 7,554 boys got the name (#26 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 226 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 1,777 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 6,547 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NV (12.22 per 1,000 boys), CA (11.35 per 1,000 boys), AZ (11.03 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Santiago is #26 in the US and #296 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9% of US babies named Santiago were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Xantiago6 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Santiago

Boys

• Asher#28Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #28 vs #150 in 2025
• Archer#98Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #289 in 2015, #98 in 2025
• Milo#119Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #288 in 2015, #119 in 2025
• Judah#178Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #178 vs #404 in 2025
• Silas#71Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #71 vs #585 in 2025
• Rowan#59“little red one”^*

For a sister

• Lia#200Latin, meaning “cow”^*
• Violet#13From the word “violet”^*
• Valentina#35Same root as Valentine, meaning “strong, healthy”^*
• Delilah#51Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #115 in 2015, #51 in 2025
• Eliana#10Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #102 in 2015, #10 in 2025. 6 letters, starting with a vowel
• Lucia#83Variant of Lucy, meaning “light”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Santiago’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.