Adam appears 61 times in the combined NYC/Seattle registry data — rank 1665. It's a human name with the most fundamental biblical origin possible (the first man, from Hebrew adamah, meaning "earth" or "ground"), and it lands in pet naming territory almost entirely via the human-name crossover path: owners who simply like the name and see no reason to change it for their dog.
A Name at the Foundation
Adam is as foundational as human names get. In the Hebrew Bible and in Christian and Islamic tradition, Adam is the first human. In naming history, it has never been fashionable in the pop-trendy sense — it sits in the category of names that are always present, never peaking wildly, carrying a solidity that comes from being definitionally ancient. On the human side, Adam ranks comfortably in the US top 100 most years.
Pet Usage and Sound
As a pet name, Adam is functional — two syllables, clear vowels, lands cleanly. It reads as a "named-after-a-person" choice rather than a "named-as-a-pet" choice, which gives it a slightly different texture than names like Biscuit or Patches. Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers are the breeds most often given straightforward human names at this tier of the registry.
The Counter-Read
At rank 1665, Adam on a pet is uncommon enough that it reads as a deliberate personal choice rather than a trend. Most people meeting Adam the dog will assume he was named after someone specific — and that assumption is often correct.