Named in memory of John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), sixth president of the United States and a lifelong patron of astronomy. Instrumental in founding the Harvard College Observatory, he also first proposed — albeit unsuccessfully at the time — the establishment of an observatory under the aegis of the Smithsonian Institution. The minor planet is named on the occasion of the joint Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics celebration of the sesquicentennial of the Harvard College Observatory and the centennial of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory {see planet  (3773)}, 1990 Nov. 2–4. (M 17224) _ _.