Anders

Anders is the Scandinavian form of Andrew, which are both ultimately derived from the Greek “Andreas”, stemming from the Greek “andros” meaning “man, manly, warrior”. It was also a common name among the Jews two centuries before Christ. Andreas became a popular name among later Christians in homage to Saint Andrew from the New Testament, one of Christ’s disciples (in fact, the first disciple called by Jesus). A Galilean fisherman and the brother of Simon Peter (St. Peter), St. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and one of the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. After the Resurrection, St. Andrew went on to preach in Asia Minor and Greece. He became one of the most popular saints in the Middle Ages and was chosen to be the patron saint of Russia, Greece and Scotland. He is also considered the founder and first bishop of the Byzantium Church (just as his brother St. Peter is considered the first pope of the Roman Catholic Church). Like most of the Twelve Disciples (Peter, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, Thaddeus/Jude, Simon and Judas), usage of Andrew as a given name has perpetuated into modern times. Not only is there Andrew (English) and Anders (Nordic), but there’s also Andreas (Greek, Latin, German), André (French), Andrea (Italian), Andrei (Russian) and Andrés (Spanish). In fact, due to Andrew’s significance among Eastern orthodox Christians, there are actually many Slavic variations of this name, as well. As the Scandinavian form, Anders is quite familiar to the Western World and still very common in places like Denmark, Norway and Sweden.