Spanish2 syllablesOutside the U.S. top 100
Meaning: manly, brave.
Andrés
Andrés is Andrew with the weight moved to the end of the word, and the accent over the e is not decoration — it is a working instruction about where your voice goes.
| Origin | Spanish form of Andrew, from Greek Andreas by way of Latin |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Manly, brave, from andreios (manly, courageous), itself from anēr, genitive andros (man) |
| Pronunciation | ahn-DRESS — two syllables, stress on the second; between vowels the Spanish d softens almost to the th of this |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100; a standard, unremarkable name throughout Spain, Mexico, Colombia and the rest of Latin America |
| Variants | Andrew, André, Andreas, Andrei, Andriy, Anders, Andrzej, Andrea (Italian, and male) |
| Nicknames | Andresito, Andrecito; Andy among bilingual families in the U.S. |
| Feast day | 30 November, the feast of the apostle Andrew |
History & meaning
A Galilean fisherman with a Greek name is a fact about first-century Palestine, not a mistake: Andreas was ordinary across the Hellenised Mediterranean, and the apostle Andrew carried it into the Gospels. The root is anēr, man, giving andreios, manly or courageous — a meaning that has needed no softening in two thousand years. Latin took the name as Andréas, stressed on the second syllable, and Castilian wore the ending away while keeping the stress exactly where Latin had put it. That is why the Spanish form is Andrés and not Ándreas.
The accent mark records that inheritance. Spanish stress is predictable: a word ending in a vowel, -n or -s takes the beat on its second-to-last syllable, and anything else must be marked. Andrés ends in -s but is stressed on the last syllable, so the tilde is compulsory — the same tilde that Ramón, Tomás, Joaquín and Jesús all carry for the same reason. Web addresses cannot hold it, so the page you are reading lives at /andres/, and a great many American birth certificates, payroll systems and airline bookings drop it too. Spanish speakers notice; the name is not misspelled so much as flattened.
Why parents choose it
Two syllables, five letters, and no version of it that any English speaker will stumble over. Andrés gives a bilingual household a name that stays intact in both languages instead of being translated at the school gate: Andrés at home, Andrés at school, Andy when he wants it. Among the classic Spanish saints' names it is one of the shortest, which makes it a good first name when the surnames are long.
Middle names for Andrés
Spanish families often build a two-part given name rather than a first-plus-middle, and Andrés is a natural opener: Andrés Felipe and Andrés Manuel are both common enough in Colombia and Mexico to be said as single units. Andrés Mateo keeps the vowels open, and Andrés Emilio adds a third stress point. Our middle names guide covers double given names in more detail.
Famous Andréses
Andrés Segovia turned the classical guitar into a concert instrument and spent sixty years proving the point. Andrés Bello, the Venezuelan scholar who drafted the Chilean Civil Code, is one of the great figures of Latin American letters. Andrés Iniesta scored the goal that won Spain the 2010 World Cup. Andrés Manuel López Obrador served as president of Mexico from 2018 to 2024.
Consider instead
Andrew is the same name with the stress at the front and no accent to lose. André keeps the final stress but takes the French route. And if you want another Spanish saint's name of Greek descent that crosses languages just as easily, Esteban does the same job with a different sound.