Meaning & History
Andrews is an English patronymic surname meaning "son of Andrew". With countless surnames across cultures rooted in paternal lineage, Andrews stands alongside Anderson and Andrewson as an English echo of the same given name.
Etymology
The patronymic suffix -s signifies "son of"; thus Andrews literally means "Andrew's (son)." The root name Andrew derives via the Greek Andreas from andreios, "manly," and anēr, "man." Though the Apostle Andrew remains the most famed bearer of that name, his Semitic original is unknown — but his veneration across the Slavic, Greek and Scottish worlds catapulted both Andreas and its surnames into perennial popularity.
Geographical Distribution
The surname Andrews appears densely in the English-speaking cradle. Counties of early concentration include Cornwall, Devon and Somerset; migration patterns later thickened it in Wales, northern England and Scotland.
Notable Bearers
With notable figures including Henry Charles Andrews, the botanical author (1794–1830) for whom the plant-author abbreviation stands, and the eponymised thoroughfares and former locality of Andrews in Queensland.
Cultural Significance
So regular is Andrews on the British landscape that both real toponyms — as in the Canadian film-dependent village of Andrews' Mill — and such trivial moments as Saint Andrew's feast day perpetuate the given name’s saintly pull.
- Meaning: son of Andrew
- Origin: English
- Type: patronymic surname
- Regions: primarily English-speaking nations, strong in the UK
- Known relatives: Anderson, Andrewson, Andreyev (Russian), Andreu (Catalan), Andersen (Norwegian), Andreasen (Danish)
Related Names
Sources: Wiktionary — Andrews