Ander
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Meaning
“Basque form of Andrew, from Greek aner, 'man'”
The story
Ander is Andrew in Basque, from the Greek aner, man, and its story is inseparable from the language it belongs to. From 1938, Spain's dictatorship forbade non-Spanish names on birth records, and Basque names like this one waited out the ban. The waiting ended emphatically. Ander Herrera carried the name through Athletic Bilbao, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, and the American record now shows the arrival in real time: 80 boys in the 1990s, 240 in the 2000s, 1,099 in the 2010s, and 2,742 so far this decade. Saint Andrew's feast on November 30 covers Ander too, the same apostle in an older Atlantic language. Some names are just names; this one is a small act of cultural repair that happens to fit on a lunchbox.
Ander across languages
One shared root links 9 names across 6 languages.
Shared root: from Greek Andreas, related to "man" and "manly"; the apostle’s name has related forms across languages
The constellation
More branches
How popular is Ander around the world?
In the United States, 2,742 babies were named Ander between 2020 and 2025. In Puerto Rico, 27 babies were named Ander in 2025, and 133 have carried the name since 1998.
Ander is on the official records of the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico City, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Montevideo, Canada, Austria, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 7,900
In the United States, 2,742 babies were named Ander between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ander peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Puerto Rico
1 in 670
In Puerto Rico, 27 babies were named Ander in 2025, and 133 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Mexico City City
1 in 720
In Mexico City, there were 164 registrations of Ander in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (15 registrations through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Spain
#86 · 2024
In Spain, 16,979 residents are named Ander, the 177th most common name among men, with a mean age of 22.7 years.
In Spain, Ander was the 86th most common name among boys born in 2024.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Chile
1 in 3,800
In Chile, 47 boys were registered as Ander in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Argentina
1 in 5,000
In Argentina, 133 newborns were given the name Ander in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Montevideo City
1 in 25,0002011
In Montevideo, 1 boy named Ander was born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Canada
1 in 33,000
In Canada, 11 boys named Ander were born in 2024, ranked 1,817th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 boy named Ander was born in 2025, ranked 1,842nd among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
England and Wales
1 in 200,000
In England and Wales, 3 boys named Ander were born in 2025, ranked 5,137th among boys that year.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Brazil
1 in 200,000
At the 2022 census, 1,020 people in Brazil were named Ander, ranked 8,177th, with a median age of 30.
Among people named Ander living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 73 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Scotland
last on record 2018
Ander is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Not on the record in Ireland, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Ander
Most people given the name Ander in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Ander deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ander truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ander fits with your family’s names and surname.
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