Andrea

Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas and Andrew.

For other uses, see Andrea (disambiguation).
Andrea
Pronunciation/ˈændriə, ˈɑːn-/ A(H)N-dree-ə,
/ɑːnˈdreɪ.ə/ ahn-DRAY-ə
Italian: [anˈdrɛːa]
GenderFemale (most languages)
Male (most cases, Albanian, Italian and Romansh)
Language(s)Greek aner, andros, "man" (i.e. adult male)
Other names
See alsoAndre, Andreas, Andy, Andrew, Andie

It is traditionally popular because, according to the Christian Bible, Saint Andrew was one of the earliest disciples of Jesus and one of the twelve Apostles.

Origin of the name

The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (anēr), genitive ἀνδρός (andrós), that refers to man as opposed to woman (whereas man in the sense of human being is ἄνθρωπος, ánthropos). The original male Greek name, Andréas, represents the hypocoristic, with endearment functions, of male Greek names composed with the andr- prefix, like Androgeos (man of the earth), Androcles (man of glory), Andronikos (man of victory). The same root ἀνδρ-, andr- denoting the male gender is found e.g. in misandry (the hatred of the male sex), andrology (male physiology), androgens (male hormones) and polyandry (the practice of taking more than one husband at the same time).

In the year 2006, it was the third most popular name in Italy with 3.1% of newborns.[1] It is one of the Italian male names ending in a, with others being Elia (Elias), Enea (Aeneas), Luca (Lucas), Mattia (Matthias), Nicola (Nicholas), Tobia (Tobias). In recent and past times it has also been used on occasion as a female name in Italy and in Spain, where it is considered the legitimate feminine form of Andrés/Andreo/Andreu (Andrew). Outside of Italy, the name is generally considered a female name.

Usage
  • In Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovenian, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Scandinavian languages and Spanish, Andrea is a feminine name. Masculine forms are Andrej, Ondřej, Andrzej, Anže, Andrew, Andreas, András, Andreo, Andrés, Anders, Andries or Andre.
  • In Albanian Andrea is a masculine name; its native form is Endri.
  • In Romansh Andrea is also a masculine name.
  • In Italian, Andrea is a primarily[2] masculine name.
  • In Bulgarian Andrea is used as the feminine form of "Andrei".
  • In Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, Andrea is a feminine name; Andreja can be used as female name, while Andrija, Andro and Andrej are masculine forms. The only exception is Istria, where Andrea is a male name.
  • In Romania Andreea is a feminine name and it is written with an extra "e". However, the feminine variation Andrea is also used. Andrea as etymon means knitting needle in Romanian. Andrei is the masculine form.
  • Andréa is a Brazilian Portuguese form of Andrea also used in Portugal along with Andreia.
  • In Dutch, Andrea is used as a female name, although the variant Andrée is found in French.
  • In Spanish, Andrea and a variation spelled Andressa are used as female variants for Andreo and Andrés.
    • In Basque, Andrea and Andere exist as female names. Two etymons merge in the former: the most widespread form with a Greek root, 'man', and the Basque-Aquitanian ancient form "andere(a)", present-day "andere(a)" and "andre(a)", 'madam', 'lady' (used mainly as title, e.g. "Andramari", 'Lady/Virgin Mary'), as opposed to "jaun", 'lord'. In popular usage it can ultimately mean 'adult woman'.
    • In Catalan, Andrea is used as the feminine form of "Andreu".

Notable people


Women

Men

References
  1. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica 2004.
  2. Dizionario della lingua italiana – Volume VII, p. 529

Sources
  • Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (2004). "Natalità e fecondità della popolazione residente: caratteristiche e tendenze recenti" (PDF) (in Italian). p. 11.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Classical Greek Online Base Form Dictionary".
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