What does it mean when you have a surname (last name) of Hebrew origins?

Question

My last name is Adams. I trace all my friends and other people's last names, and they come up origins from England, Scotland, Germany and other stuff. But, when I put my name in, it says that Adams is Hebrew origins. What does this mean? I've traced my Adams name back to the late 1700s, but I can't get any farther. All Adams people. What does Hebrew origins mean? That's not Jewish relatives, right? That's like Abraham or Moses, right?

Answer 1

Adams means son of Adam, which was a popular name during the middle ages among non-Jews.

So this means that somewhere in the mists of time, you had a paternal ancestor named Adam.

Answer 2

I found this after searching on google for the definition.

Hebraic: of or relating to or characteristic of the Hebrews; "the old Hebrew prophets"

the ancient Canaanitic language of the Hebrews that has been revived as the official language of Israel

Jew: a person belonging to the worldwide group claiming descent from Jacob (or converted to it) and connected by cultural or religious ties

wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Then I had a look for the meaning of the surname Adams,  I just wanted to read it for my self as my friend has the same surname, this is what I found for that.

Surname: Adams

This interesting surname is a patronymic of Adam, which is of English origin, and is from the Hebrew personal name "Adam", which was borne, according to Genesis, by the first man. The name is of uncertain etymology; however, it is often said to be from the Hebrew "adama", earth. It was very popular as a given name among non-Jews throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. The personal name was first recorded in England with one "Adam Warenarius " in Lincolnshire in 1146 - 1153. The surname development since 1281 (see below) includes the following: John Adamsone (1296, Scotland), William Adames (1327, Worcestershire) and Richard Adamessone (circa 1400, Norfolk). The second president of the United States, John Adams (1735 - 1826), and his son John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848), who became the sixth president, were descended from Henry Adams, a yeoman farmer who had emigrated from Barton St. David, Somerset, to Massachusetts (United States of America) in 1640. Among the recordings in London is the marriage of Robert Adams and Jane Stanton on September 25th 1573 at St. Dunstan's, Stepney. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alianor Adam, which was dated 1281, witness in the "Assize Rolls of Cheshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Having a last name of  Hebrew origin doesn't necessarily mean that you're of Jewish descent.  A name like Adams simply means that, about the time ordinary people began taking permanent last names, someone's father was named Adam.  But Biblical names are popular in all Christian countries, and making a patronymic of a first name by adding an S is an English and Lowland Scots practice.  

Unfortunately, some dictionaries of last names simply give the origin or etymology of the name without gving any information about the actual nationality.  Such a dictionary would tell you that Davies, for example, comes from the Hebrew name David without adding that that particular form of the name is distinctively Welsh.  

Another consideration is when the FIRST name was first used in a particular country.  Some Biblical first names, especially Old Testament ones, weren't used in the British Isles until after the Reformation, so last names based on them are very unlikely to be Scottish or English.  A good dictionary of first names can also be very helpful.

Answer 4

Your question is actually a very valuable one and I'm so glad you asked it.

The problem with looking up the origins of a name is that some names came from other cultures. A simple example is the name "Barack". While it's amazingly common in Kenya, it's taken on new popularity in the US because of a certain political candidate. That doesn't mean the ethnic heritage of the next 2000 Americans given that name has any ethnic link to Kenya, nor does it mean that name has any significance in the child's family. It just means the child's parents liked the name and chose it.

The misconception is that surnames are different, that somehow surnames only mean something in the country where the name originated. But that's not the case. Surnames are a relatively recent novelty. Britain has had them longer than most countries, but names moved around during history and got "borrowed" by various cultures. Surnames were adopted by various means, as Shirley mentioned above, but there's one more way: They were adopted from religion.

Mohammed is common in Islamic cultures because Mohammed as the great prophet. Cruz is popular in Hispanic cultures because of Catholicism. Any number of names, both first names and surnames, have their origins in the Bible. It doesn't make the people who adopted those names Jewish, it just makes them people with a knowledge and affection for the Bible. When names were chosen from the Bible the etiology of the name in Hebrew doesn't help you identify your own ethnicity...in fact it complicates it.

Tracking your own heritage is a matter of catching the paper trail and following it wherever it leads you. Using a name to direct you can become very troublesome. Simply put, our ancestors' creativity in picking a name can confuse our searches today.

Answer 5

No this doesn't mean you're one of the chosen people.  Sorry.  Though this question does remind me of McAdams Whiskey, that sh*t is terrible.  Which is also not Jewish, it is of the Canadian sort.

Answer 6

You have to understand most people in Europe did not have a surname until the last melennium.  In England, they generally had one by the 14th century.

They were based on being the a) son of some one. Sons of men named Adam frequently took the name Adams as sons of men named John ususally took the name Johns, Johnson, or Jones.

b) their occupation - Taylor, Baker, Carpenter, Clark(clerk), Miller, Fisher, Wright, Smith etc

c) where they lived - Sam that lived on a hill became Sam Hill. Some took the name of the town, castle, river or whatever to which they lived in or close by.

d) some characteristic about them - like a man with brown hair took the name Brown

It wasn't impossible for legitimate sons of the same man to have a different surname and still they could have each shared their surname with others with whom they were not related.

Actually Adam is mentioned in the Bible as the first man, but Abraham hadn't even been born.  I don't think there were Hebrews before Abraham.