Adam

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Boy · Hebrew

Adam

Say it: AD-um

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Hebrew adam, 'man, humankind', which Genesis connects with adamah 'earth, ground'.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

Used in medieval England and Scotland and very popular across Europe since the 1970s.

Its wave through time

Fading since the 1980s

In the United States

05101518801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1984per 1,000 babies of that sex
  • 564,574 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 1984, about 1 in 75 boys
  • 3,758 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
  2. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  3. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  4. The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
  5. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  6. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

HebrewEarly ChristianEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishHungarianScottish

The family of the name

Other spellings: Adem

FrenchAdam
SpanishAdán
ItalianAdamo
PortugueseAdão
GermanAdam
PolishAdam
HungarianÁdám
HebrewAdam

Famous bearers

  • Adam, the first man in Genesis
  • Adam Smith, Scottish economist
  • Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
  • English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.