Ater, black, was the source of the name of Adria in Picenum, whence was called Adriatic Sea.  A family of Ælii, migrating through Spain, were known by the cognomen of Adrianus, or Hadrianus, both place and name being usually spelt with the aspirate... The Italian surname of Adriani is probably derived from the original city.  An Adrianus was the first abbot of St. Augustin's, Canterbury, and another was first bishop of Aberdeen; but the most popular St. Adrianus was an officer in the imperial army who was converted by the sight of the martyrdoms under Galerius, and was martyred himself at Nicomedia, whence his relics were taken to Constantinople and to Rome, and thence again to Flanders, where they were transported from one abbey to another, and supposed to work such miracles that Adrianus has ever since been a universal name in the Low Countries, where it gets contracted into Arje, or Janus, while the more northerly nations call it, in common use, Arrian, or Arne. (History of Christian Names, Yonge, 1884).