Of Roman origin.
An Italian and Portuguese form of the name Adrian.
From the name “Hadrian” which comes from the name “Hadrianus”.
Hadrianus was a Roman cognomen.
Hadrianus indicated a person from the ancient Italian town of Hadria.
Feminine form of the name is Adriana.
Other forms of the name are Adrian, Adrien, Ad, Adi.
Famous bearers are Adriano Celentano, Adriano De Souza, Adriano Panatta, Adriano Leite Ribeiro, Adriano Malori, Adriano Giannini, Adriano Zumbo, Adriano Correia Claro.
Additional information concerning the Ancient Roman naming system:
According to the Roman naming rules, the basic elements of Roman names were three. A “praenomen”, a “nomen”, and a “cognomen”.
A “praenomen” was the first name, indicating the personal name.
A “nomen” was the second name, indicating the ‘gens’ to which the bearer of the name belonged to. Gens, meaning the group of families sharing a common “nomen”.
“Nomen” would stand as the group of loosely connected families claiming common ancestors. “Nomen” were always patrilinear, meaning from the father.
A “cognomen” was the third name and was something like the surname. Cognomina (plural of cognomen) were usually inherited. They were rarely given to the bearer by general consensus by the prominent members of the community.
There were several types of “cognomina”, such as geographical, adoptive, occupational, etc. In very rare cases the “cognomina” could be metronymic, meaning from the mother’s “nomen”.