Adam

Meaning: Man; earth
Origin: English (from Hebrew, via Greek and Latin)

Nicknames: Addie, Addy, Adie

Boy's name · #101 in the US (2025) · 80s wave

Popularity over time

Adam's best rank, #18, came in 1983; it has stepped well back to #101 today. Roughly 580,000 boys have been named Adam since 1880. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records.

Bonanza introduced Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright in 1959. US births of Adam rose from 582 that year to 2,149 in 1962.

Across the states

See where Adam is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 50 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

Adam is especially popular in Finland (other-lang.), Czechia, and Slovakia.

#2 in Finland (other-lang.) (2025) · #4 in Czechia (2025) · #4 in Slovakia (2025) · #5 in Belgium (2025) · #9 in France (2025) · #11 in Sweden (2025) · #12 in Netherlands (2025) · #12 in Hungary (2025) · #15 in Poland (2025) · #17 in Switzerland (2025) · #20 in Ireland (2025) · #23 in Slovenia (2025) and 13 more.

Famous Adams

Adam Smith — Scottish moral philosopher and political economist (1723–1790)
Adam Mickiewicz — Polish national poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator, and political activist (1798–1855)
Adam Sandler — American actor and comedian
Adam Levine — American singer (born 1979)
Adam Riess — American astrophysicist

In stories & tradition

Adam — Torah (book)
Adam (He-Man) — Masters of the
Adam Warlock — Fantastic Four

What Adams become

Among 8,341 notable people named Adam:

Military figures appear 1.31× more often than among typical names — e.g. Adam Johann von Krusenstern, Russian explorer (1770–1846).

Spellings & nicknames

About 180 girls a year are given Addie as their full name.

Similar names: Jonathan · Adrian · Aaron · Andrew · Alex · Joel

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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