Adam

What Adam means

Means “earth, man, soil, light brown”

From Middle English Adam, from Old English Adam, from Latin Adam, Adamus, from Ancient Greek Ἀδάμ (Adám), Ἄδαμος (Ádamos), from Biblical Hebrew אָדָם (adam, “earth, man, soil, light brown”), from אדמה (adamah, “red earth, ground”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Adam” (revision 94534333), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Adam?

US: Falling: down from #73 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #38 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1984, when 23,939 boys got the name (#18 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 488 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 190 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 172 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MI (4.35 per 1,000 boys), NY (4.11 per 1,000 boys), DE (4.07 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Adam is #101 in the US and #26 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.7% of US babies named Adam were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Adem23 US · 21 E&W
• Atom34 US
• Adom0 US · 8 E&W
• Edem6 US
• Eydam6 US
• Addam5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Adam

Boys

• Paul#262“small”^*
• Jeremy#292Form of Jeremiah, meaning “Yahweh exalt”^*
• Stephen#383“crown, wreath”^*
• Timothy#203“to honour + god”^*
• Michael#21“who is like God?”^*
• Mark#244Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1960, with 58,727 babies; 1,416 in 2025

For a sister

• Elizabeth#17“my God is an oath”^*
• Jamie#857Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1977, with 12,895 babies; 316 in 2025
• Rebecca#349“enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”^*
• Jessica#665possibly “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe…^*
• Michelle#465Feminine form of Michel, meaning “who is like God?”^*
• Priscilla#544“former, ancient, old-fashioned”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Adam’s. Rank is US 2025.