The surname of ADAM-MERCER has the arms depicted here quartered. ADAM was a baptismal name 'the son of Adam', almost the prime favourite as a font name in the 13th Century. It was also a popular name in Scotland, and there is a legend that a Duncan Adam, who lived in the reign of Robert the Bruce, had four sons, Robert, John, Reginald, and Duncan, and that from them all the Adams, Adam, MacAdams and Adies in Scotland are descended. Early records of the name mention John Filius Adam was recorded in County Oxford, 1273. Johannes Adam of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Thomas Williams and Anne Addams were married in London in 1619, and Thomas Adams and Elizabeth Emerson, were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in the year 1640. John Adams (1735-1826) 2nd President of the United States; member of committee formed to draft the Declaration of Independence. John Adams (1760-1829), one of the Bounty's mutineers; founded settlement on Pitcairn Island. John Couch Adams (1819-1892), astronomer, discoverer of the planet Neptune. MERCER was derived from the Old French word 'mercier' a dealer in clothes, a draper, one who dealt in textile fabrics, especially in silks, velvets and other costly materials. The name was rendered in medieval documents in the Latin form of MERCARIUS. Variant spellings of the name include MERCIER, MERCHIER, MERZARI, and MERSIER. A family of this name can trace its ancestry to Thomas MERCER, who was empowered by Edward III in 1341 to obtain money from the Constable of Bordeaux to raise troops in Aquitaine. Other records of the name mention Gamel MERCER who was recorded in 1168 in London. John le MERCIER was documented in Gloucestershire in 1196. Hamo le MERCHIER, 1204, County Oxford. Edward le MERCER, County Lincoln, 1273. Johannes MERCER of Yorkshire was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of the year 1379. Baptised. Success, son of Thomas MERCER at St. Michael, Cornhill, London in 1694.