Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. Now, due to the actions of a select few, such as Andrew Tate and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, there's a fear among some of those who share the name that all Andrews are getting a bad rap. But did you know that there is a global community called the Council of Andrews who are fighting back to restore faith in their name?
To chat to us about this, I'm joined by UK-based journalist Andrew Lloyd. And Andrew, you're welcome to the show. How do you feel about your name right now?
It's a bit of a strange time to be an Andrew, to be honest. I've always quite liked my name, but you can't avoid the kind of notorious headlines that are everywhere at the moment. It's not that there are a lot of bad Andrews out there, but there are enough notorious Andrews that are filling the headlines. I think it's not the best time to be called Andrew.
Chapter 2: Why do some believe all Andrews are getting a bad rap?
Is it a topic of conversation amongst your friends or people that you meet? Are we at the point now where people comment on the fact that your name is Andrew?
I've not noticed it directly, but once I noticed all these headlines and the fact that whenever you typed my first name into Google, I went onto the news tab, it was just full of these horrible headlines. I started to do a bit of digging into the name Andrew, and I realized that the popularity of the name has absolutely plummeted. So Scotland, for example, the patron Saint Andrew, for 50 years,
That was in the top three most popular names until 2024 when it didn't even make the top 100. So I do think there is a considerable change going on at the moment. We can't say that that's necessarily a result of that. But I imagine if you're having a child at the moment, Andrew may not be on the top of your baby names list.
And are you Andrew to all of your friends or are you Andy or Drew or any derivative of Andrew?
So everyone calls me Andrew, and sometimes they ask if I prefer Andy or Drew, and I always say Andrew, and I don't know why, to be honest, but it's interesting how different people go for different versions.
So you went to a Drew-fest, did you? What was that?
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Chapter 3: What is the Council of Andrews and what do they stand for?
That's right, yeah. So I joined this... Well, first of all, so I just started typing the name Andrew into Google because I thought maybe I should find some better representatives of the name out there. Let's see what other Andrews are up to. Is any Andrews doing anything for any good causes? And that's how I stumbled upon the Council of Andrews on Facebook.
They had 6,000 members and you could only join if your name was Andrew. So I joined and I entered and I found there was this massive community that was formed in 2019 of people called Andrew...
drew andre and even andreas as long as your name derives from the greek root name andreas you can join up and i just got to know everyone in this group just observing slowly at first and then i noticed that they had these american things called drew fests where lots of people with a derivative of the name andreas met up in person to hang out so i thought okay let me see if i can connect with people called andrew
If there's something about the name that makes you connect to them more closely. So I hosted my own Drew Fest. I travelled up to Manchester and we got about, I think it was 11 Andrews in the same room.
11 Andrews. Now, you know, communities and groups, they're based on a singular shared interest. Normally, Andrews are only connected by virtue of the fact that you're called Andrew.
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Chapter 4: How does Andrew Lloyd feel about his name in the current climate?
So presumably you're not alike and you didn't have much in common with these people.
Yeah.
That was absolutely so fascinating because you're so right. If you were to join another Facebook group, say, if you're a fan of golf or a fan of skateboarding, immediately you have something in common. But because we only had our name in common, there was no guarantee that we would get on, have anything to chat about. And the group was an eclectic bunch.
So there was me there as a journalist, but then we also had a wedding DJ. There was a restaurant area manager. And then we kind of sat at this table at first and we were just discussing the council. But then gradually then it's almost like we forgot we were there because we were called Andrew. And then we just found out actually we did have certain things in common. We had shared interests.
And it's just fascinating because we knew that if we hadn't joined the council, there's no chance any of us would have been sat at the same table at that point in time.
And was there a shared view that the name Andrew has had a bad rap because of the characters I mentioned at the beginning?
I think not so much because when I spoke to these Andrews, they had been in the group for many years. This had been going on since 2019, as I say. So I think their experience of Andrews was they knew thousands and thousands of Andrews who were actually good Andrews.
Do you think that a shared name is a good way for people to connect? Because as I'm listening to this, I'm beginning to wonder, and I might have to do a search on this now afterwards, whether every name has a Facebook group. You know, is there a group of Claire's? I'm sure there is.
I'm sure there is as well. So I found a bunch more. And in fact, I realized that the Council of Andrews is not even the biggest same name group. So there's the Council of Ben's. There's something called the Kingdom of Kyle. And the most popular are a group just called the Ryans. And they are trying to break the world record for having the most amount of people with the same name in one place.
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Chapter 5: What factors have contributed to the decline in the popularity of the name Andrew?
I'm still in the group and I'm watching lots of things going on. But I noticed as soon as we held the first UK Drew Fest, that was a bit of a nightmare organizing that, to be honest, because everyone in the group chat was called Andrew and it's hard to figure out who was talking to who.
And as soon as we concluded ours, people posted images from the day and the council and then everyone's like, oh my God, I would have gone to this if I knew that was the thing. And the group chat got renamed to the next Drewfest. So as we speak, they are trying to plan the next one to get even more Andrews together in the same room.
But you're maybe stepping back a little bit from the organisational aspect anyway.
Yeah, I think I've seen the words Andrew too many times on the screen now. It doesn't even make sense to me anymore. So I'm in the group kind of casually watching from afar.
But some of the or the Council of Andrews, I mean, that has moved ahead in a big way and it's become very impactful on some of the lives of the people who are involved in it, hasn't it?
Absolutely. So I met a fascinating Andrew called Andrew Warner. And he actually told me that he didn't like his name for a long time because the name means strong and manly. And he was quite an effeminate man and he didn't really relate to that. And it was by joining the group that he realized, oh, actually, I don't have to correspond to a certain kind of Andrew. My name is not my fate.
And actually, there are a wide variety of us and I can just be myself and still be a valid Andrew. And in fact, no, he only uses Facebook to speak to other Andrews. He doesn't even call it Facebook anymore. He calls it the Andrews app.
The Andrews app. But there are a lot of fundraising as well. Fundraising that happens through the council where, you know, a group of Andrews will choose to help out another Andrew.
That's right, yes. I think this happened quite early on in the group, but they realized that one of their fellow Andrews was in a kind of a difficult financial position. So they raised some money for him. And then more and more Andrews came forward and the founder called Andrew Patz, he recognized that, He could do something good here.
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Chapter 6: What experiences does Andrew Lloyd share about connecting with other Andrews?
I'm not too sure. I'll have to double check that. I think maybe my parents just like the sound of it at the time, because that's something that happens as well, where contemporary names you get called after, then there's a big surge of certain names and then they come and go as trends.
But it's not a family name as far as you're aware?
Not as far as I'm aware. Maybe I'll have to do a deep dive into my family tree and see if I've got a great, great Andrew somewhere.
But if you had a son, would you think about calling him Andrew?
I'm not too sure. I think I probably wouldn't just because it seems too egotistical. And also, after being in the group chat where everyone's called Andrew, I can't imagine living in a household where there's more than one.
Thank you very much to Andrew. Andrew Lloyd, UK-based journalist there, telling us about a supportive community of Andrews. The Clare Byrne Show. With Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at 9 on Newstalk. Conversation that counts.
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