Andrew
Feminine · “manly”
Andrew is given to boys far more often — 1,329,454 boys against 4,961 girls since 1880. See Andrew as a boy name
Andrew is a Greek name carried by a Galilean fisherman, and that combination is more interesting than it looks. Two of the twelve disciples have Greek names rather than Aramaic ones, which tells you something about how thoroughly Greek had soaked into the eastern Mediterranean by then. The word underneath simply means manly — from the ordinary Greek word for a man.
How old is the name Andrew?
Andrew first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Andrew alive today was born around 1982, making them about 43 years old. About 4,200 people named Andrew are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Andrew most popular?
Andrew peaked in 1987, reaching #789 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 12,419 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From andreios to Andrew
The story of Andrew
Andrew was the first of the disciples called, according to John's Gospel, and the traditions about him send him east and north — to Greece, where he is said to have been martyred on a diagonal cross, and to the Black Sea. That diagonal cross became the saltire, which is why it is on the flags of Scotland, of Russia's navy, and inside the Union Jack. He is patron saint of Scotland, Russia, Greece, Ukraine and Romania, which is a wider portfolio than almost any other saint holds. In America the name has been in continuous use since records began and reached the very top of the list in the late twentieth century, which is why so many adults carrying it now are of one generation.
Meaning
manly, brave
From the Greek andreios, manly or courageous, built on aner, a man, in the stem form andros. The same root gives English android and misandry, and it is one of the most productive words in Greek naming.
How the name formed
- andreios
- Andreas
- Andrew
Related forms: Andreas · Andrés · Andrea · Andrei · André · Andrzej
Pronouncing Andrew
AN-droo
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Italian Andrea is a man's name said an-DRAY-ah, which regularly confuses English speakers who read it as a woman's name; the two are the same name in different languages.
Nicknames for Andrew
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1881
- Most girls named
- 1986212 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #789reached in 1987
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%6 in 2025, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Andrew in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Andreas in Greek — transliteration
- Andrés in Spanish — same name
- Andrea in Italian — same name
- Andrei in Russian — same name
- André in French — same name
- Andrzej in Polish — same name
Andrews among us
people named Andrew are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Andrew
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Andrew's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vita climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vita's path sketches the road Andrew is walking now.
Andrew sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Andrew beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Andrew in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has been in continuous use in English for the better part of a thousand years and has never sounded dated.
- Andy and Drew are both fully established and belong to different generations, so a boy has real range.
- Every European language has a form of it, which makes it unusually portable.
- The meaning is one word long and impossible to misremember.
- It reached the very top of the American list within living memory, so a man of a certain age will have shared classrooms with several.
- Andrew and Andrea are the same name in Italy and different names here, which causes confusion abroad.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a boy; the girls in the record are few enough that no form will expect one.
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Andrew
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Andrews are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Andrew are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Andrew in 2025?
- Andrew ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Andrew?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Andrew — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Andrew with classmates?
- Andrew will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Andrew
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Andrew? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Andrew and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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