Andrea

The name’s religious foundation is strong: Saint Andrew the Apostle, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus and the patron saint of Scotland, Russia, Greece, and Romania, bears the Greek form Andreas.

His feast day, November 30 (Saint Andrew’s Day), is a national day in Scotland and is observed in several other countries. This apostolic connection gave the name exceptional durability across Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions.

Andrea as a feminine name is documented in England from the 17th century, likely as a learned Latinate feminization of Andrew.

The name grew substantially in the United States throughout the mid-20th century, reaching its peak popularity in the 1970s and 1980s when it ranked within the top 20 names for girls.

This made Andrea one of the defining feminine names of the Baby Boomer and early Generation X cohorts.

Notable bearers of the name include Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), the Italian tenor - demonstrating the masculine use - and Andrea Mitchell, the American journalist, representing the feminine use.

In fiction, the name appears across genres, including in The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (2003) as the protagonist Andy Sachs (Andrea), adapted into a 2006 film.

The name has a long presence in telenovelas across Latin America, where it remains highly fashionable.

By 2024, Andrea had declined from its 1980s peak in the U.S. but remained within the top 300 names for girls, with substantially higher rankings in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and other Spanish-speaking countries where it is a top-10 feminine name.

In Italy and Germany, it continues as a common masculine name. Pronunciation varies by region: English speakers typically say AN-dree-ah, while Italian speakers say an-DREH-ah.