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Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Names

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Questions

It is claimed that some Book of Mormon names are used improperly or in an inappropriate context. Examples include:

• using "Alma" as a man's name, rather than a woman's name
• using names of Greek origin, such as "Timothy"

To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here

Answer

Many Book of Mormon names are not found in the Bible, and were unknown to Joseph Smith. Yet, these names have meaning in ancient languages and/or have been found as actual names from ancient history. These "hits" provide additional evidence that the Book of Mormon is indeed an ancient record.

Detailed Analysis

Key

Hugh Nibley did considerable work on Book of Mormon names. References to his work will be marked as follows to avoid multiple, repetitive footnotes:

• [Nibley: Lehi in Des.] = Hugh W. Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites, edited by John W. Welch with Darrell L. Matthew and Stephen R. Callister, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988), 23-32. [Nibley marks Old World names as (OW) and Book of Mormon names as (BM).]

Others:

• [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000] = "John A. Tvedtnes, John Gee, Matthew Roper", "Book of Mormon Names Attested in Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9/1 (2000). [40–51] link

General treatments on Book of Mormon names

• John A. Tvedtnes, "What's in a Name? A Look at the Book of Mormon Onomasticon (Review of I Know Thee by Name: Hebrew Roots of Lehi-ite Non-Biblical Names in the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 34–42. off-site
• Gordon C. Thomasson, "'What's in a Name? Book of Mormon Language, Names, and [Metonymic] Naming'," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 3/1 (1994). [1–27] link
• Stephen D. Ricks and John A. Tvedtnes, "The Hebrew Origin of Some Book of Mormon Place Names," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6/2 (1997). [255–259] link
• Paul Y. Hoskisson, "What's in a Name?," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 7/1 (1998). [78–] link

Topics

This page is still under construction. We welcome any suggestions for improving the content of this FAIR Answers Wiki page.

Abish

Summary: "Abish corresponds to the Hebrew name 'bš', found on a seal from pre-exilic times (prior to 587 BC) in the Hecht Museum in Haifa.19 The addition of the Hebrew letter aleph (symbolized by ' in transliteration) to the end of the name is known from other Hebrew hypocoristic names, suggesting that the name on the seal may be hypocoristic." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Aha

Summary: "Aha (OW), a name of the first Pharaoh; it means "warrior" and is a common word." [Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

• "Hugh Nibley proposed that the name was of Egyptian origin meaning "warrior". But the name is now attested in several early inscriptions as Hebrew 'h', thought by scholars to have been vocalized 'Aha' and to be a hypocoristic name based on 'ah, "brother". The longer form, rendered Ahijah in the King James Bible, is 'ahîyah(û), which means "brother of Yah (Jehovah)" or "Yah is my brother",21 which is also attested in a dozen ancient Hebrew inscriptions." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Alma

Summary: "Alma is supposed to be a prophet of God and of Jewish ancestry in the Book of Mormon. In Hebrew Alma means a betrothed virgin maiden-hardly a fitting name for a man." - "Dr." Walter Martin, The Maze of Mormonism (Santa Ana, California: Vision House, 1978), 327. However, despite claims into the 1980s by anti-Mormon critics, the name "Alma" has been known since the 1960s as a male Hebrew name. It occurs in contexts from 2200 B.C. to the second century B.C.

Ammon

Summary: "Ammon (Amon, Amun) (OW), the commonest name in the Egyptian Empire: the great universal God of the Empire."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Ammonihah

Summary: "Ammoni-hah (BM), name of a country and city. [compare with] Ammuni-ra (OW), prince of Beyrut under Egyptian rule. The above might stand the same relationship to this name as Khamuni-ra (OW), Amarna personal name, perhaps equivalent of Ammuni-ra."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.] "The name is attested on two Hebrew seals, one known to date to the seventh century BC, in the forms ‘mnyhw and ‘mnwyhw." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Chemish

Summary: "His name is apparently related to that of the Ammonite god Chemosh, spelled Kmš in prevocalic Hebrew and Ammonite (related languages). A number of names containing the element Kmš are known, in which it is clear that the divine name was meant.33 Also known is a seal currently in the Israel Museum that has Kmš as the name of a man or woman." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Com

Coriantumr

Corihor

Summary: See "Korihor".

Cumenihah

Cumorah

Hagoth

Summary: "One Book of Mormon critic argued that Joseph Smith derived the name Hagoth from the name of the biblical prophet Haggai. Indeed, the names may be related, but a closer parallel is the biblical Haggith (see 2 Samuel 3:4; 1 Kings 1:5, etc.), which may have been vocalized Hagoth anciently. All three names derive from a root referring to a pilgrimage to attend religious festivals. The name Hagoth is attested in the form Hgt on an Ammonite seal inscribed sometime in the eighth through the sixth centuries BC36 (The Ammonites, neighbors of the Israelites and descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot, wrote and spoke the same language as the Israelites.)" - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Helaman

Summary: "Helaman (BM), great Nephite prophet. [compare with] Her-amon (OW), "in the presence of Amon," as in the Egyptian proper name Heri-i-her-imn. Semitic "l" is always written "r" in Egyptian, which has no "l." Conversely, the Egyptian "r" is often written "l" in Semitic languages.[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Hem

Summary: "Hem (BM), brother of the earlier Ammon." "Hem (OW), means "servant," specifically of Ammon, as in the title Hem tp n 'Imn, "chief servant of Ammon" held by the high priest of Thebes."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Himni

Summary: "Himni (BM), a son of King Mosiah. Hmn (OW), a name of the Egyptian hawk-god, symbol of the emperor."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.] "...the name Himni is clearly Hebrew and is represented by the unvocalized form, Hmn on two Israelite seals. The first, from the eighth century BC, was found at Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley. The other is from the first half of the seventh century BC." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Isabel

Summary: "Isabel was a harlot in the land of Siron, on the border between the Lamanites and the Zoramites (see Alma 39꞉3). LDS scholars have generally assumed that the name is identical to that of the Old Testament Jezebel, the Hebrew form of which was 'ÃŽzebel, and this is probably correct. But the spelling Yzbl is now attested on a seal in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem that is thought to be Phoenician in origin." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Irreantum

Jarrom

Summary: "One might wish to compare Jarom with the biblical name Jehoram, which is found twenty-one times in the Bible, while its hypocoristic form Joram occurs twenty-four times. But several Hebrew inscriptions bear the name Yrm, which scholars consider to be the hypocoristic form of Yrmyh(w), Jeremiah, whose name means "Yah (Jehovah) exalts." Yrm is found in four Hebrew inscriptions, including a seal of the seventh century BC, found in Egypt, and three items from the time of Lehi: a jug inscription from Tel esh-Shari‘ah, and an ostracon and bulla in the Moussaieff collection." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Jershon

Summary: Matthew Roper: "The Book of Mormon name Jershon can be traced to a Hebrew root meaning 'to inherit.' In the Book of Mormon we read 'Behold, we will give up the land of Jershon, which is on the east by the sea…and this land of Jershon is the land which we will give unto our brethren for an inheritance' (Alma 27:22)."

Josh

Summary: "Josh was the name of a city destroyed at the time of Christ's crucifixion (see 3 Nephi 9꞉10) and of a Nephite military leader who died in the great battle at Cumorah (see Mormon 6꞉14). Critics have suggested that this is merely the American diminutive for the name Joshua. But a number of Hebrew inscriptions bear the name Y'š, probably vocalized Yô'š, which Israeli scholars have acknowledged to be hypocoristic for the biblical name Y'šyhw, Josiah, in whose reign Jeremiah began his prophetic mission (see Jeremiah 1:2; 27:1).43 The name appears in three of the Lachish letters (2, 3, and 6) from the time of Lehi.44 It is also the name of four persons named in the fifth-century BC Jewish Aramaic papyri from Elephantine, Egypt. Four of the bullae found near Tel Beit Mirsim and dating from ca. 600 BC bear the name Y'š. Three of them were made from the same seal.

Kim

Korihor

Summary: "Korihor (BM), a political agitator who was seized by the people of Ammon. Kherihor (also written Khurhor, etc.) (OW), great high priest of Ammon who seized the throne of Egypt at Thebes, cir. 1085 B.C."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.] The twenty-first [Egyptian] dynasty was founded by a person called Korihor whose son was Piankhi. That's a very funny name; you don't invent a thing like that. It wasn't discovered until the 1870s that Piankhi is a name that we have in the Book of Mormon. Korihor was a priest of Amon who usurped the power of the state. His son Piankhi became king.

Lachoneus

Summary: Wrote Hugh Nibley of this Old World name: "The occurrence of the names Timothy and Lachoneus in the Book of Mormon is strictly in order, however odd it may seem at first glance. Since the fourteenth century B.C. at latest, Syria and Palestine had been in constant contact with the Aegean world, and since the middle of the seventh century Greek mercenaries and merchants, closely bound to Egyptian interests (the best Egyptian mercenaries were Greeks), swarmed throughout the Near East. Lehi's people...could not have avoided considerable contact with these people in Egypt and especially in Sidon, which Greek poets even in that day were celebrating as the great world center of trade. It is interesting to note in passing that Timothy is an Ionian name, since the Greeks in Palestine were Ionians (hence the Hebrew name for Greeks: "Sons of Javanim"), and—since "Lachoneus" means "a Laconian"—that the oldest Greek traders were Laconians, who had colonies in Cyprus (BM Akish) and of course traded with Palestine." Lehi or Mulek's group would have then known—or even contained—people named "Lachoneus," a proper Greek name of the proper sort in the proper timeframe.

Lehi and Sariah

Lehi

Summary: two different twentieth-century archaeological finds from Palestine attest to the term lḥy as a male personal name. One inscription is on a papyrus fragment found in 1962 among the Samaria Papyri of the Wadi el-Daliyeh; it preserves lḥy as the main element of a compound name. The other inscription in which lḥy stands alone as a personal name appears on an ostracon (an inscribed ceramic sherd) found in 1939 at Tell el-Kheleifeh (ancient Elath) on the shore of the Red Sea.

Sariah

It is also an interesting coincidence that similar evidence for Lehi's wife's name has turned up in a papyrus document, written in Persian period Aramaic, in the era following the sixth century BC. The female Jewish/Hebrew name Sariah appears in an Aramaic papyrus from the fifth century BC (albeit partially restored by the original publisher). The document is known as C-22 (or Cowley-22), and was found at Elephantine in upper Egypt around the year 1900....The female name Sariah does not appear in the Bible, just as the male name Lehi does not. Yet both appear in the Book of Mormon. That we can now identify both the Jewish/Hebrew names Sariah in the Elephantine Papyri and Lehi in the Samaria Papyri and on Ostracon 2071 represents two significant steps forward in corroborating the authenticity [of the Book of Mormon]. - Ibid.

Liahona

Summary: literally, "to Yahweh is the whither" or, by interpretation, "direction of-to the Lord."

Limhah

Luram

• "The name is reflected in the second element of the name 'dn-Lrm, "Lord of LRM," known from a seal of ca. 720 BC found during excavations at Hama (Hamath) in Syria. The name is also known from graffiti on three bricks from the same level at Hama." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Manti

Summary: "Manti (BM), the name of a Nephite soldier, a land, a city, and a hill. Manti (OW), Semitic form of an Egyptian proper name, e.g., Manti-mankhi, a prince in Upper Egypt cir. 650 B.C. It is a late form of Month, god of Hermonthis."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Mathoni

Summary: "The Hebrew name Mtnyhw appears on a seventh- century BC wine decanter, on six seals, and on seven bullae, most of them from the time of Lehi. The hypocoristic Mtn, which could be vocalized either Mattan (as in the Bible) or Mathoni (as in the Book of Mormon), is found on Ostracon 1682/2 from Khirbet el-Meshash (second half of the seventh century BC), seven seals (most from the seventh century BC), and eleven bullae (most from the time of Lehi)." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Mathonihah

Moronihah

Mosiah

• John Sawyer, "What Was a Mosiaʿ?" Vetus Testamentum 15 (1965): 475–486 [FARMS Reprint in 1989]; cited and applied by John W. Welch, "What Was A 'Mosiah'?," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), 105–107.

Mulek

Muloki

Summary: "Muloki was one of the men who accompanied the sons of Mosiah on their mission to the Lamanites (see Alma 20:2; 21:11). His name suggests that he may have been a Mulekite. Also from the same root are names such as Mulek and Melek, which is the Hebrew word meaning "king". Mulek is hypocoristic for Hebrew Mlkyh(w) (KJV Melchiah and Malchiah), which is attested both in the Bible (see 1 Chronicles 6:40; Ezra 10:25, 3; Nehemiah 3:14, 31; 8:4; 11:12; Jeremiah 21:1; 38:1, 6) and in numerous ancient inscriptions, most of them from the time of Lehi. Indeed, it has been suggested that one of the men bearing this name is the Mulek of the Book of Mormon. He is called "Malchiah the son of Hammelech," which means "Malchiah, son of the king" (see Jeremiah 38:6).
Muloki corresponds to the name Mlky on a bulla found in the City of David (Jerusalem) and dating from the time of Lehi." - [Gee Roper Tvedtnes 2000]

Nahom

Summary: Nephi's party reaches an area "which was called Nahom" (1 Nephi 16:34) near the time that they make an eastward turn in their journey. NHM [the root for naham] appears twenty-five times in the narrative books of the Bible, and in every case it is associated with death. Strikingly, altars dating from the time of Lehi have been found with the inscription "NHM." As one travels south-southeast of Jerusalem along the major trunk of the ancient Arabian trade route, the route branches east toward the southeastern coast at only one point: in the Jawf valley (Wadi Jawf) just a few miles from Nehem. From thence the eastern branch of the trade route goes toward the ancient port of Qana--modern Bir Ali—on the Hadhramaut coast, where most of the incense was shipped. This eastern branch was the major route—the pathways to the south were less used.

Nephi

Summary: "Nephi (BM), founder of the Nephite nation. Nehi, Nehri (OW), famous Egyptian noblemen. Nfy was the name of an Egyptian captain. Since BM insists on "ph," Nephi is closer to Nihpi, original name of the god Pa-nepi, which may even have been Nephi."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Nephihah

Onihah

Paanchi

Summary: "Paanchi (BM), son of Pahoran, Sr., and pretender to the chief-judgeship. Paanchi (OW), son of Kherihor, a) chief high priest of Amon, b) ruler of the south who conquered all of Egypt and was high priest of Amon at Thebes."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Pahoran

Summary: Pahoran (BM), a) great chief judge, b) son of the same. Pa-her-an (OW), ambassador of Egypt in Palestine, where his name has the "reformed" reading Pahura; in Egyptian as Pa-her-y it means "the Syrian" or Asiatic."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Pacumeni

Summary: "Pacumeni (BM), son of Pahoran. Pakamen (OW), Egyptian proper name meaning "blind man"; also Pamenches (Gk. Pachomios), commander of the south and high priest of Horus."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Pachus

Summary: "Pachus (BM), revolutionary leader and usurper of the throne. Pa-ks and Pach-qs (OW), Egyptian proper name. Compare Pa-ches-i, "he is praised.""[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Rameumptom

Summary: While many words and names found in the Book of Mormon have exact equivalents in the Hebrew Bible, certain others exhibit Semitic characteristics, though their spelling does not always match known Hebrew forms. For example, "Rabbanah" as "great king" (Alma 18꞉13) may have affinities with the Hebrew root /rbb/, meaning "to be great or many." "Rameumptom" (Alma 31꞉21), meaning "holy stand," contains consonantal patterns suggesting the stems /rmm/ramah/, "to be high," and /tmm/tam/tom/, "to be complete, perfect, holy.

Rabbanah

Summary: While many words and names found in the Book of Mormon have exact equivalents in the Hebrew Bible, certain others exhibit Semitic characteristics, though their spelling does not always match known Hebrew forms. For example, "Rabbanah" as "great king" (Alma 18꞉13) may have affinities with the Hebrew root /rbb/, meaning "to be great or many." "Rameumptom" (Alma 31꞉21), meaning "holy stand," contains consonantal patterns suggesting the stems /rmm/ramah/, "to be high," and /tmm/tam/tom/, "to be complete, perfect, holy.

Sam

Summary: "While Sam is a perfectly good Egyptian name, it is also the normal Arabic form of Shem, the son of Noah." "Sam (BM), brother of Nephi. Sam Tawi (OW), Egyptian "uniter of the lands," title taken by the brother of Nehri upon mounting the throne."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Sheum

Shilum

Timothy

Summary: [R]emember...that in Lehi's day Palestine was swarming with Greeks, important Greeks. Remember, it was Egyptian territory [prior to being seized by Babylon] at that time and Egyptian culture. The Egyptian army, Necho's army, was almost entirely Greek mercenaries. We have inscriptions from that very time up the Nile at Aswan-inscriptions from the mercenaries of the Egyptian army, and they're all in Greek. So Greek was very common, and especially the name Timotheus.

Zarahemla

• Stephen D. Ricks and John A. Tvedtnes, "The Hebrew Origin of Some Book of Mormon Place Names," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6/2 (1997). [255–259] link

Zemnarihah

For remarks on the "-ihah" ending likely not reflecting the divine name of God (Yahweh or Jehovah), see:

• Paul Y. Hoskisson, "It Is OK Not to Have Every Answer: The Book of Mormon Onomastic Ending -(i)hah," Journal of Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture 18/1 (2009). [48–55] link

Zenoch

Summary: "Zenoch (BM), according to various Nephite writers, an ancient Hebrew prophet. Zenekh (OW), Egyptian proper name; once a serpent-god."[Nibley: Lehi in Des.]

Zeezrom

Less well supported examples

Linguistics is a complex subject, and it is all too common for zealous but mistaken defenders of the Church to use parallels in names or language which cannot be sustained. Since most Church members have no training in ancient American languages, evaluating such claims can be difficult.

Mesoamerican scholars consulted by FAIR have recommended that the following sources, while superficially persuasive, should be used with caution (if at all):

• Bruce W. Warren, "Surviving Jaredite Names in Mesoamerica," Meridian Magazine (26 May 2005)off-site; citing Blaine M. Yorgason, Bruce W. Warren, and Harold Brown. New Evidences of Christ in Ancient America (Stratford Books, Inc. and Book of Mormon Research Foundation: Provo, 1999), 17–22. ISBN 0929753011. Some material in this book is less well supported. Consult: Andrew J. McDonald, "New Evidences for Old?: Buyer Beware (Review of: Evidences of Christ in Ancient America)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 101–118. off-site
• Bruce W. Warren, "'Kish'—A personal Name" Meridian Magazine (17 February 2005)off-site; citing Blaine M. Yorgason, Bruce W. Warren, and Harold Brown. New Evidences of Christ in Ancient America (Stratford Books, Inc. and Book of Mormon Research Foundation: Provo, 1999), 19–22. ISBN 0929753011. Some material in this book is less well supported. Consult: Andrew J. McDonald, "New Evidences for Old?: Buyer Beware (Review of: Evidences of Christ in Ancient America)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 101–118. off-site

These comments are not intended to disparage the individuals involved, but to encourage rigor and restraint in claims made. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks cautioned, "When attacked by error, truth is better served by silence than by a bad argument."

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Notes

Further reading and additional sources responding to these claims