The surname Soto was originally found Castile, in north central portion of Spain. The name is from any of numerous places named Soto or El Soto. Those names come from soto which means ‘grove’ or ‘small wood.’ The Latin word was saltus.

Spelling variations are variations of this family name include: Soto, de Soto, Desoto, Sota, de Sota, de la Sota, Desota, Sotela, Sotelo, de Sotelo, Sotera, Sotero and Sotillo.

Original location for people with the surname is Spain.

In England just a few with the Soto surname live in Lancashire county. Within the United States, it is the southwest border states of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and California with Soto family names.

The Soto families in the 1880s worked as laborers and farmers.

Famous: Freddy Soto (Comedian), Humberto Soto (Mexican boxer), Josu De Solaun Soto (Spanish classical music pianist), Pedro Blanco Soto (assassinated President of Bolivia for one week), Talisa Soto (model and actress), Cesar Soto (Mexican boxer, former WBC featherweight champion), Alejandra Soto (news TV anchor), Gary Soto (American author and poet), Ivonne Soto (Mexican actress), Jay Soto (jazz guitarist), Lindsay Soto (sports journalist) and Marco A. Soto (President of Honduras from 1876 to 1883).