EDWIN SANTIAGO

From an Old English personal name derived from ēad ‘prosperity, riches’ + wine ‘friend’. It was borne by a 7th-century king of Northumbria, who was converted to Christianity by St Paulinus and was killed in battle against pagan forces, a combination of circumstances which led to his being venerated as a martyr. The name occurs occasionally from the mid 16th century, but in modern use it is largely the result of a 19th-century revival.

Galician, Portuguese, and Spanish: habitational name from any of the numerous places named for the dedication of their churches to St. James (Sant Iago). The apostle St. James the Greater is the patron saint of Spain; there is a medieval legend that, after the death of Christ, he did not meet a speedy end under Herod Agrippa, but visited and evangelized the Iberian peninsula. His alleged burial site at Compostela has been a place of pilgrimage from all over Europe for over a thousand years.