Adams

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• English (very common in England, especially in the south Midlands, and in Wales) and German (especially northwestern Germany) : patronymic from the personal name Adam. In the U.S. this form has absorbed many patronymics and other derivatives of Adam in languages other than English. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.)
• This American family name was borne by two early presidents of the United States, father and son. They were descended from Henry Adams, who settled in Braintree, MA, in 1635/6, from Barton St. David, Somerset, England. The younger of the two presidents, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) derived his middle name from his maternal grandmother’s family name (see <xref>Quincy</xref>).

Famous people with this last name

Appears on

• ​American Last Names and Meanings