Soto as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Soto

What is the meaning of the name Soto ?

The baby name Soto is a Male name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced Spanish: /ˈsoto/; English approximation: /ˈsoʊtoʊ/ (SOH-toh).

Soto is Spanish in Origin.

Soto is a Spanish surname-turned-given name meaning “grove” or “riverside thicket,” from Spanish soto, ultimately from Latin saltus (“woodland, pasture”). It arose as a toponymic for people who lived near a wooded floodplain, and numerous Iberian places named El Soto preserve that sense. Records show the surname in medieval Castile and Navarre, spreading widely across the Spanish-speaking world through migration and colonial era expansion; it is now common in Mexico, Peru, Chile, and the United States. As a first name, Soto is rare but used in recent decades as a modern, gender-neutral choice.

Variants and related forms include De Soto and Del Soto (“from the grove”), the plural Sotos, and the diminutive toponym Sotillo; Galician-Portuguese Souto is a cognate meaning “chestnut grove.” Note that Japanese Sōtō, a Zen Buddhist school sometimes romanized Soto, is etymologically unrelated. Possible nicknames: So and Toto.