Adam

Adam is about as old as given names get. In Hebrew, 'adam' is the ordinary word for a person or for humankind. Genesis builds a pun on it: the first human is shaped from the ground, and the Hebrew for ground is 'adamah'. The name therefore carries the idea of a person made of earth.

Reference works differ on what lies further back. Behind the Name points to a Hebrew root meaning 'to be red', perhaps after the ruddy colour of skin, and also mentions an Akkadian verb meaning 'to make'. Wiktionary instead stresses the link with earth and light brown soil. What is clear is the route the name travelled: from Hebrew into Greek and Latin, then into Old and Middle English. Behind the Name notes it has been used in England since the Middle Ages and became more common after the Reformation.

In British English it is said AD-um, with a short first vowel. Elsewhere it shifts: Germans and the Dutch say AH-dam, the French a-DAN with a nasal ending. Its cousins include Adamo in Italian, Adán in Spanish, Adão in Portuguese, Ádám in Hungarian and Adem in Turkish and Bosnian, so it is recognised almost everywhere.

Being short and soft, Adam sits well before a longer middle name such as Adam Frederick or Adam Thomas. For a sibling, Eve is the obvious pairing, while Elias, Jonas, Lina or Nina keep the same plain, gentle sound.