The name Santana is of Spanish origin and means "saint" or "holy." It was derived from the Spanish word "santo," which means saint. The name has been used historically as a given name, but it is also often used as a surname.
The use of Santana as a given name dates back to at least the Middle Ages in Spain. It was typically given to children who were born around religious holidays or whose parents had a strong devotion to a particular saint. Some examples of saints with the name Santana include Saint Ana, a Spanish nun who lived in the 17th century, and Saint Ana de Padua, an Italian nun who founded a convent in the 15th century.
The name Santana has also been associated with music, particularly since the rise to fame of guitarist Carlos Santana. Born in Mexico but raised in San Francisco, Carlos Santana formed his band Santana in the late 1960s and achieved international success with hits like "Oye Como Va" and "Black Magic Woman." Although not named after the guitarist, the name Santana has become increasingly popular as a given name since the 1970s.
Today, Santana is still used as both a given name and a surname. It remains popular in Spain and Latin America, but it has also gained popularity internationally. According to data from the Social Security Administration in the United States, for example, Santana has been among the top 1,000 boys' names every year since 2004.
In conclusion, Santana is a name of Spanish origin that means "saint" or "holy." It was historically given to children who were born around religious holidays or whose parents had a strong devotion to a particular saint. Today, it remains popular both as a given name and a surname, particularly in Spain and Latin America, but also internationally.
The name Santana has seen a varied trend in popularity over the years in the United States, as reflected in these statistics of births per year.
In the early 20th century, its popularity was quite low, with only five babies named Santana born annually in both 1910 and 1947. However, starting from the 1970s, we began to see an increase in its usage as a baby name, with 12 births in 1971, followed by peaks of 22 and 385 births respectively in 1978 and 1985.
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw a consistent trend of around 160-235 babies named Santana born each year. This trend continued into the late 1990s, with numbers fluctuating between approximately 130 to 200 births annually.
Since the year 2000, the popularity of the name Santana has seen a more gradual increase, going from 196 births in 2000 to reaching a recent peak of 165 births in 2021. Despite some fluctuations over the years, it's clear that the name Santana has gained steadily in popularity among parents in the United States.
In total, based on these statistics, there have been 5738 babies named Santana born in the United States since 1910. This indicates a growing trend of parents choosing this name for their children over time.