Andrea


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

Origin of the name

The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ, genitive ἀνδρός, that refers to man as opposed to woman. The original male Greek name, Andréas, represents the hypocoristic, with endearment functions, of male Greek names composed with the andr- prefix, like Androgeos, Androcles, Andronikos.
In the year 2006, it was the third most popular name in Italy with 3.1% of newborns. It is part of the Italian male names ending in a, some others being Elia, Enea, Luca, Mattia, Nicola, Tobia. 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. Outside of Italy, the name is generally considered a female name.

Usage

  • In Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovenian, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Scandinavian languages and Spanish, Andrea is a feminine name. Masculine forms are Andrej, Ondřej, Andrzej, Anže, Andrew, Andreas, András, Andrey, Andreo, Andrés, Anders, Andries or Andre. However, many Swiss men regardless of first language are also named Andrea, if followed by a masculine middle name to comply with Swiss naming law.
  • In Albanian Andrea is a masculine name; its native form is Ndrea.
  • In Romansh Andrea is also a masculine name.
  • In Italian, Andrea is a primarily masculine name. Nevertheless, some men of Italian descent, from countries where Andrea is feminine, bear the 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.
  • Andréia is the most common Portuguese spelling of this name, although Andréa is also used in Brazilian Portuguese. The masculine form is André.
  • In Dutch, Andrea is used as a female name, although the variant Andrée is found in French.
  • In Spanish, Andrea and variations spelled Andreina and Andressa are used as female variants for Andrey, 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", present-day "andere" and "andre", 'madam', 'lady', 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".
  • In Asturian, Andrea is the feminine form of "Andrés".

    Notable people

Women