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    The surnameAdams

    A patronymic surname, the 42nd most common in the United States.

    Pronounced /ˈædəmz/ 2 syllables Soundex A352

    Adams: #42 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Adams #42, 427,865 people Adams: #42 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#1,000Archer Adams #42, 427,865 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Adams is more common than 99.9% of them.

    Origin

    From Adam + -s. (fishing fly): Named after Charles Adams, who asked his friend Leonard Halladay to design the fly.

    Adams is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 427,865 people named Adams in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 722 Americans. That is up 3.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 413,086.

    #42
    rank among US surnames
    427,865
    people in 2010
    145
    per 100,000 Americans
    +3.6%
    change since 2000 (was #39)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #33Allen482,607640
    #34King465,422663
    #35Wright458,980673
    #36Scott439,530702
    #37Torres437,813705
    #38Nguyen437,645705
    #39Hill434,827710

    Who is named Adams

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    74% of people named Adams identified as white (not Hispanic), 20% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 74%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 20%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
    • Two or more races 2.2%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Adamss

    179 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Amy Adams
      American actress (born 1974)
    • Ansel Adams
      American photographer and environmentalist (1902–1984)
    • Samuel Adams
      American statesman, political philosopher, governor of Massachusetts and Founding Father o, 1722–1803
    • Henry Adams
      American journalist, historian, academic, novelist (1838-1918)
    • Julie Adams
      American actress (1926–2019)
    • Scott Adams
      American cartoonist and author (1957–2026)
    • Michael Adams
      British chess grandmaster, born 1971
    • John Adams
      American composer (born 1947)
    • Tyler Adams
      American soccer player (born 1999)
    • Joey Lauren Adams
      American actress, born 1968
    • Carol J. Adams
      Author, animal rights activist, born 1951
    • Don Adams
      American actor (1923–2005)

    Notable Adamss come mostly from the United States (153), the United Kingdom (16) and Australia (6).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Surnames that sound like Adams

    Adams has the Soundex code A352, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code A352.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Adams come from?
    From Adam + -s. (fishing fly): Named after Charles Adams, who asked his friend Leonard Halladay to design the fly.
    How common is the surname Adams?
    427,865 people in the United States had the surname Adams in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 722 Americans. It ranked 42nd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Adams?
    In the 2010 Census, 74% of people named Adams identified as white (not Hispanic), and 20% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Adams?
    Amy Adams, American actress (born 1974), followed by Ansel Adams.