This ancient surname recorded world-wide in over two hundred and fifty spellings, and including as examples Andreas, Andrew, Dandy, Tand(e)y, Jendrusch, and Vondrak, is of pre Christian Greek origins. It derives from the personal name Andreas, meaning manly, and was held by the first of Christ's disciples. Prior to the 10th century a.d., the name as a first name only, there were no surnames before the medieval period, was almost exclusively held by members of the church, one of the first of such recordings being that of a Andreas, a monk, in the English Domesday Book of the year 1086. The name gained in popularity throughout Europe after the 12th century Crusades to free the Holy Land, and began to develop nickname forms. These included the diminutives Dandy and Tandy, fused forms of "The son of Andy". St Andrew is the patron saint of both Scotland and Russia, and legend has it that his remains were brought to the city of St. Andrew's in Scotland, in the year 900 a.d. Thomas Tandy was recorded at St Dionis backchurch, in the city of London in 1584, whilst Anthony Andrew appears in the register of the first listings for the state of Virginia, New England, in 1623. The very first recorded spelling of the family name anywhere, is probably that of William Andreu. This was dated 1237, in the ancient charters of the county of Buckinghamshire, England, in the year 1237. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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