[3][4][7] Andradite was named after the Brazilian statesman, naturalist, professor and poet José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (1763–1838).

[3][7] It occurs in skarns developed in contact metamorphosed impure limestones or calcic igneous rocks; in chlorite schists and serpentinites and in alkalic igneous rocks (typically titaniferous).

Associated minerals include vesuvianite, chlorite, epidote, spinel, calcite, dolomite and magnetite.

[3] It is found in Iran, Italy, the Ural Mountains of Russia, Arizona and California and in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in Ukraine.

Like the other garnets, andradite crystallizes in the cubic space group [[Ia3d]], with unit-cell parameter of 12.051 Å at 100 K.[9] The spin structure of andradite contains two mutually canted equivalent antiferromagnetic sublattices[10] below the Néel temperature (TN=11 K[11]).