View Message

Adams and other "English male first names plus -s" surnames usually mean "son of", as in this case: Adams = "son of Adam". The "-s" version is very commonly Welsh, as in Evans, Williams, Jones (Johns), etc. Adamson would be the more strictly English equivalent and McAdam or MacAdam would be the Scottish.

---

"Sawyer" is an old English occupational surname, denoting someone would sawed lumber (planks) out of felled trees. Very often this was performed with the log laid horizontally over a pit. One man would work from the pit and one from above the log, cutting lengthwise planks with a 2-man crosscut saw (called a pit saw) like lumberjacks used to fell trees before the advent of the chainsaw.

---

The meaning of neither name is different in first, middle or last positions.

---

Hope that helps,

---

Da.

Adams is derived from the first name Adam.

---

Sawyer is in the database as a first name. It means the same thing when it's a last name.