Andrew

A fisherman of Bethsaida, he is traditionally said to have preached the gospel in Scythia, Greece, and Asia Minor before being martyred at Patras around 60 AD on an X-shaped cross now called the saltire.

He is the patron saint of Scotland, Russia, Greece, Romania, and Ukraine, and his cross appears on the flags of Scotland and the Russian Navy. His feast day is November 30.

Royal use is dense.

The name was borne by three kings of Hungary, two of Naples, and most prominently Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), the seventh President of the United States and victor of the Battle of New Orleans, and Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president.

Literary bearers include critic Andrew Lang of the rainbow Fairy Books, novelist Andrew Sean Greer, and the title character of John Knowles’s A Separate Peace (1959). Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World (1948) hangs in the Museum of Modern Art.

Andrew has appeared in the SSA top 100 every year since records began in 1880, an extraordinary stability matched by few names.

It climbed from the 30s in mid-century to peak at 5th in 1987 and again in the early 2000s, riding the same biblical revival that lifted Matthew, Joshua, and Jacob.

As of 2024 it sits near 50th, holding mainstream use across English-speaking countries, Greece (as Andreas), and Russia (as Andrei).

Contemporary bearers include British astrophysicist Sir Andrew Wiles, who proved Fermat’s Last Theorem in 1994, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and tennis champion Andy Murray. The diminutives Andy and Drew add flexibility.