Andreina is an Italian diminutive of Andrea, from Greek roots meaning "brave" or "manly."
Andreina is the Italian and Venezuelan Spanish diminutive of Andrea, itself the feminine form of the Greek Andreios, meaning 'manly' or 'brave' — a derivation that carries a quiet irony given how thoroughly feminine the name has become. The Greek root, aner, is the same that gives us 'androgen' and 'android,' but in Andreina the etymology softens into something tender and warmly affectionate, the -ina suffix functioning as a term of endearment as much as a name in its own right.
The name is particularly beloved in Venezuela and Colombia, where it became a fashionable given name through the mid-twentieth century, partly through the influence of telenovelas and partly because Spanish-speaking cultures have long embraced the melodic Italianate diminutive tradition. In Italy, Andreina appears in the operatic world — there are minor characters bearing the name in verismo-era works — lending it a faint theatrical shimmer. Andreina occupies an interesting cultural position today: unambiguously Latinate yet comprehensible across linguistic boundaries, formal enough for a birth certificate yet soft enough for daily use.
It offers the nickname Andrea without sacrificing the full name's elegance. For parents of Italian or Latin American heritage, Andreina is a way of carrying cultural memory without resorting to the obvious, a name that announces its roots without announcing its intentions.