Origin of The Name
It derives from the Greek ανήρ (anēr), genitive ανδρός (andrós), that indicates the man as opposed to the woman (while man in the meaning of human being is άνθρωπος, ánthropos, ανθρώπου, anthrópou). The original Greek name, Andréas, represents the hypocoristic, with endearment functions, of male Greek names composed with the andr- prefix, like Androgeos, Androcles, Andronikos. The same root ανδρ-, 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. 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). Outside of Italy, the name is generally considered a female name.
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.
Read more about this topic: Andrea
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