Adan
A surname most often from the biblical personal name Adam, with forms that could be spelled and pronounced differently across Europe.
The #9,155 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,629 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Adan is generally taken as a surname derived from the personal name Adam, itself from Hebrew ʼādām, meaning “man” or “human being.” Medieval records show spellings such as Adan and Aden alongside Adam, reflecting the loose and variable spelling of the period. In some places, especially in French and English records, it may simply be a variant spelling of Adam or a surname formed from a bearer of that given name.
History
The name appears in medieval records in more than one spelling, and late-19th-century surname writers treated Adan as a historical variant alongside Adam. In Irish material, similar spellings can also reflect local pronunciation of the given name Aidan/Aodhán, so not every modern Adan family will share the same origin. As with many short surnames, separate lines may have developed independently in different countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname compiler noted that medieval scribes often wrote Adan and Aden where later English would more usually have Adam.
From the historical record
“A Riadford is mentioned (obliquely, 'on r6adan ford') in a Somersetshire charter A.D. 938. Cp. Retford and Radford.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)