Meaning of the Name Adam
The Hebrew word 'adam' means 'human, humankind' and in the Genesis narrative plays on the word for 'ground' (adamah): the human was taken from the ground. It serves both as the first man's proper name and as a common noun meaning 'human'.
Origin
The name Adam is of Hebrew origin.
Who is Adam in the Bible?
Adam, according to Genesis, is the first human: created in God's image, placed in the garden, and sent out of it after eating the forbidden fruit. Paul calls Jesus 'the last Adam' and compares two conditions of humanity through the two men.
The story of Adam in the Bible
Adam's story stands on the Bible's opening pages. According to Genesis, God forms the man from the dust of the ground and breathes the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man becomes a living being. The name itself carries this scene: in Hebrew, 'adam' means human and plays on 'adamah,' the word for ground, naming both the first man and humankind. God places Adam in the garden of Eden to tend it and forbids him the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam and his wife break that command, everything changes: the ground is cursed, bread will come by the sweat of the brow, and the man taken from dust will return to dust. The account ends with expulsion from the garden, marking the entry of toil and death. In the New Testament, Paul sets Adam beside Jesus: the first Adam became a living being, while Christ, the last Adam, is a life-giving spirit. Adam thus names both humanity's beginning and the hope of a new beginning.
Is Adam mentioned in the Quran?
The name Adam is also mentioned in the Quran, where he is regarded as the first human and the first prophet in Islamic belief; in the Bible he appears at the opening of Genesis as the first man, formed from the ground.
Verses where Adam appears
- Genesis 2:7 —
Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Genesis 3:17-19 —
To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with…
- 1 Corinthians 15:45 —
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.