Andreas Family History

Greek; also German and Dutch: from the New Testament Greek name Andreas, which gave rise to Andrew in English and vernacular derivatives in almost every other European language. Etymologically, it is from Greek andreios ‘manly’, from aner ‘man’, ‘male’ (genitive andros). It was the name of the first of Christ’s disciples, and is a Greek translation of an Aramaic original. The disciple is the patron saint of both Scotland and Russia, but the Scottish Anderson is far more common than its Russian equivalent, Andreev. The personal name was popular throughout Europe in various vernacular forms (for example, Italian Andrea, French André, Scottish, North German, and Scandinavian Anders, Dutch Andries, Hungarian András, Czech Ondrej, Slovak Ondrej, Polish Andrzej and Jedrzej, and Russian Andrei).