479. 'Calling the name' or 'calling by name' means in the Word knowing a person's character, as shown already. Here it means knowing the character of the Most Ancient Church, which was as follows: Man was taken from the ground, that is, was regenerated by the Lord, for Adam is the ground; afterwards when he became celestial, he was above others Man by virtue of faith inherent in love to the Lord.

478. The reason he is called Adam is that the Hebrew word Adam means man. But the fact that Adam was never used as a proper name, only Man, is quite clear from the consideration that both here and earlier he is spoken of in the plural and not in the singular, and that the term refers to both man and woman. The two together are called Man. Anyone may see from these words that both are included, for it is said, 'He called their name Man on the day in which they were created', and similarly in 1:26, 28, 'Let Us make man in Our image, and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea. This shows also that the subject is not about someone who, when created, was the first human being of all, but about the Most Ancient Church.