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Japanese Andrea is in the Bible in Italian translations, where it is the name of the apostle Andrew. English and Spanish Bibles call him Andrew and Andrés, and no woman in Scripture is named Andrea. In most other languages Andrea is a woman’s name, the feminine of Andrew. Both come from the Greek Andreas, from andreios, “manly.”
What does Andrea mean?
Andrea means “manly” or “masculine.” It comes from the Greek name Andreas, built on andreios, “manly,” which in turn comes from aner, “man.” The related Greek noun andreia was the ordinary word for courage.
In Italy, Andrea is a man’s name, the everyday form of Andrew. In English, Spanish and many other languages it is a woman’s name. As an English name it has been used since the seventeenth century, though it was not common until the twentieth.
Is Andrea in the Bible?
That depends on the language of the Bible. The Greek New Testament calls the apostle Andreas, and each translation gives him its own form of that name. English Bibles call him Andrew: “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus” (John 1:40). In the Italian Nuova Riveduta the same verse begins “Andrea, fratello di Simon Pietro.” Spanish Bibles call him Andrés, French and Portuguese Bibles André, and German Bibles Andreas.
Andreas itself is a Greek name. Andrew may also have had a Hebrew name, but if so the Gospels do not record it.
Andrew in the Gospels
Andrew was a fisherman from Galilee and the brother of Simon Peter. John’s Gospel says he was first a disciple of John the Baptist. When John saw Jesus passing and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”, Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus and spent the rest of the day with him (John 1:35-39). “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:41-42). Mark tells the call differently: Jesus saw Simon and Andrew casting a net into the Sea of Galilee and said, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people” (Mark 1:16-17).
Andrew is named in every list of the twelve apostles. Later in John’s Gospel he twice brings someone to Jesus. At the feeding of the five thousand, he points out “a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish,” then adds, “but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9). Later, when some Greeks at the festival in Jerusalem asked Philip to see Jesus, “Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus” (John 12:22). Mark also names him among the four disciples who asked Jesus privately, on the Mount of Olives, when the temple would be destroyed (Mark 13:3-4).
Saint Andrew after the Gospels
The Eastern churches call Andrew the First-Called, from his place in John’s Gospel. According to tradition he preached around the Black Sea and was crucified at Patras, in Greece. The earliest accounts say he was bound to an ordinary cross; the tradition that the cross was X-shaped came later, and that shape, the saltire, is now called the Saint Andrew’s cross and appears on the flag of Scotland. He is the patron saint of Scotland, Greece, Russia and Romania, and his feast is kept on 30 November.
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