What is the origin of the last name "Santos?"?

Question:

What is the origin of the last name "Santos?"?

Is it Spanish or Portuguese ?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Santos
This most interesting and unusual surname is of Old French and early medieval English origin, and is derived from a nickname for a
notably pious individual, from the Middle English, Old French "saint, seint", from the Latin "sanctus", blameless, holy. The vocabulary
word was occasionally used in the Middle Ages as a given name, especially on the Continent, where it has given rise to the following
instances: Sant (France), Sa(i)ns (France), Sant(i) (Italy), Santo (Italy), and Santos (Spain).

The name was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, where it is also found as Saint, Sant and Sants. The
surname itself first appears in the mid 13th Century (see below), while other early examples include John le Seynt, mentioned in the Close
Rolls of King Henry 111 in 1255, and Hugh Sant, recorded in 1270 in the Court Rolls of the Abbey of Ramsey and of the Honor of Clare
(Cambridgeshire). William, son of Thomas Saunt, was christened on August 24th 1620, at St. Katherine by the Tower, London. The
first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of
Roger le Sent, which was dated
circa 1250, in the "Cartulary of Rievaulx Abbey", Yorkshire, during the reign of
King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272.