Of Roman origin.
Feminine form of the name Adrian, associated with the Latin name Hadrian which in turn comes from the name Hadrianus.
Hadrianus was a Roman cognomen. Cognomen was the third name of Roman citizens that was originally just a nickname.
Hadrianus indicated a person from the Italian town of Hadria.
Alternative forms of the name are Adrianna, Adrianne, Adriene, Adria, Adrina, Drina, Ada, Addie, Adrea.
Masculine forms of the name are Adrian, Adriano, Adi, Adrien.
Adriana is the name of a character in Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors”.
Famous bearers of the name are Adriana Lima, Adriana Ugarte, Adriana Asti, Adriana Sklenaříková-Karembeu.
Adriana Ugarte is a Spanish actress known for her roles in Spanish tv series and her collaboration with director Pedro Almodóvar in the 2016 film “Julieta”. More about Adriana Ugarte.
The following video is the official trailer of the film in which Adriana Ugarte was the protagonist:
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