Andres

Meaning and origin

Andres belongs to the Andrew family, ultimately meaning “manly” or “masculine.” It is an Estonian form in its own right and also represents the familiar unaccented spelling of Spanish Andrés. Both traditions lead back to Greek Andreas.

The Greek name comes from andreios, an adjective based on aner, meaning “man.” Andrew is the English form, while Andres and Andrés preserve different language developments of the same ancient name.

The accent matters in Spanish spelling. Andrés has its stress on the final syllable and is pronounced approximately ahn-DRESS. The unaccented Andres spelling appears in American records and in other language traditions, so its use extends beyond one national setting.

Religious history

The name family has a long Christian history through the apostle Andrew. In the New Testament, he is the brother of Simon Peter and one of the disciples of Jesus.

His place in Christian tradition helped carry forms of the name across Europe. The result is a wide family that includes Spanish Andrés, French and Portuguese André, Italian Andrea, German Andreas, and several northern and eastern European forms.

Andres belongs within that international history rather than being a recent invention. Its modern American use is one part of a much broader story of the Greek name moving among languages.

Related names

In Estonian, Andrus is a related variant and Anti is an established short form. Andra is a feminine relative. These forms belong specifically to the Estonian branch of the family.

Spanish Andrea is a feminine form of Andrés. English Andrew has familiar forms such as Andy and Drew, while the Spanish and Estonian traditions have their own patterns. The shared Greek origin connects them without making every familiar form interchangeable across languages.

Andrés Iniesta and football

Spanish footballer Andrés Iniesta is one of the most recognizable modern bearers. His career with FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team made the name familiar to football audiences around the world.

His defining international moment came in the 2010 World Cup final against the Netherlands. On July 11, in Johannesburg, Iniesta scored the match’s only goal in the 116th minute, late in extra time. The goal secured Spain’s first World Cup title.

The achievement became part of the public memory of his home town, Fuentealbilla, where a street and a statue honored him. That connection gives Andrés a particularly vivid place in the history of Spanish sport.

Popularity in the United States

For the exact spelling Andres, the best American rank for boys was number 152 in 1993. Its largest annual count came in 2007, with 2,721 births.

It ranked number 228 in 2015, number 219 in 2020, and number 200 in 2025, showing continued familiarity in recent American naming.

How popular is Andres?

In 2025, Andres ranked #200 among boys in the United States, with 1,744 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 2,721 in 2007. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.