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 [ 3 syll. a-drian, ad-ri-an ] The boy name Adrian is sometimes used as a girl name. Its pronunciation is EYDRiyahN KEY. Adrian is used chiefly in the English, German, Polish, Romanian, and Russian languages, and it is derived from Latin origins. The name is of the meaning man from Hadria; dark one. The name is derived from Hadrian, itself from Hadrianus (Latin) meaning 'man from Hadria'. Hadria is a town in northern Italy named after the Adriatic Sea. The sea was probably named for the dark-colored sand on its beaches, from the Latin 'ater' (black). Today the city Atri is in the Italian province of Teramo. Adrian was the cognomen of the Roman emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus, who came from this town; during his reign (117-138) Hadrian's Wall was built across northern England. To the Romans, Adrian and Hadrian were equivalent names, but the former became more popular through association with a prominent Roman officer who converted to Christianity and was martyred in 304, as well as Saint Adrian of Canterbury (-710), a native from Africa who twice refused the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. In tribute to the latter, the name was adopted by Nicholas Breakspeare (Adrian IV) (1100-1159), the first and only British pope. In literature, the name has appeared in the Shakespearean plays The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1608) and The Tempest (1611). See Adrian for more info. The name Adriana (Czech, English, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slavic, and Spanish) is the female form of Adrian. The name Adrian is used to a great extent; it has 28 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Adrian used in English include Ad (used in Dutch as well) and Hadrian (used in German and Scandinavian as well). The short form Ade, the pet forms Addie and Adie, and the variant spelling Edrian are other English forms. Foreign variants of Adrian include Adi (Hungarian and Yiddish), Adorjan (Hungarian), Adria (Catalan), Adriaan (Dutch), Adriaen (Dutch), Adriano (Italian and Spanish), Adrianus (Dutch), Adrián (Spanish), Adrião (Portuguese), Adrien (Hungarian and French), Adrik (Russian), Andreian (Russian), Andreyan (Russian), Andri (Russian and Scandinavian), Andrian (Russian), Andrion (French), Andriyan (Russian), Ariano (Italian and Spanish), Arjan (Dutch and Albanian), Arjen (Dutch), and Jadranko (Slavic). Another foreign variant is the pet form Adya (Russian). Adrian is popular as a baby name for boys, and it is also considered trendy. The name's popularity has been rising since the 1940s. At the modest peak of its usage in 2008, 0.365% of baby boys were given the name Adrian. Its ranking then was #56. Out of all boy names in its group, Adrian was the most popular in 2008. Adrian was more widely used than the subsequent ranked name, Adrien (Hungarian and French), by 25 times in that year. Adrian has predominantly been a boy name in the past century. In 2000, Adrian as a boy name outnumbered its use as a girl name by 24 times. Baby names that sound like Adrian include the name Adrián (Spanish) and the name Edrian (English). Details of famous persons named Adrian: KEY: Pronunciation for Adrian: EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"   |
