NOM

The NHM discussion in another thread leads to some interesting facts about Book of Mormon names. The BoM contains around 300 proper names. Were there extra-BoM sources for any of them?

For starters, almost half of are borrowed directly from the Bible. For example:
Abraham, Ammon, Bethabara, Esrom, Ether, Gomorrah, Ishmael, Jared, Jonas, Judea, Lemuel, Madmenah, Nazareth, Pathros, Pekah, Rama, Shinar, Sinim and Zebulun. To be fair some of these are references to Biblical people and places, but many are also BoM proper names.

We also see Greek words and names borrowed from the Bible, like Alpha and Omega, and my personal favorite: Timothy.

Let's talk about Timothy. How is it that a Mayan (or an Eastern Woodland Indian if you lean that way) ended up with a Greek name not seen elsewhere in scripture until the New Testament? And how is it that this Greek name would be passed down by pre-Hellenism Jews living in America for over 600 years before it finally surfaced?

Some of the most significant BoM characters take their names from either the Bible or Biblical apocrypha:

Lehi is mentioned 4 times in Judges
Enos comes from Genesis
Nephi is in 2nd Maccabees

Some names come from Joseph Smith's environment. Zenos and Alma were both 19th century men's names in Upstate New York.

Then there are the names that are created by riffing on Bible names...
Abinadab (Bible) = Abinadi and Abinadom (BoM)
Aminadab (Bible) = Aminodi (BoM)
Kish (Bible) = Akish and Kishcumen (BoM)
Gimzo (Bible) = Gimgimno (BoM)
Helam (Bible) = Helaman (BoM)
Melech (Bible) = Melek (BoM)
Gideon (Bible) = Gid (BoM)
Antipas (Bible) = Antipus (BoM)
Nahum (Bible) = Nahom (BoM)
There are probably others that I'm missing.

...or by riffing on other BoM names or adding a prefix like "hah" to a Bible name or another BoM name:
Nephi/Nephihah
Moroni/Moronihah
Ammon/Ammonihah
Mathoni/Mathonihah
Antion/ Antionah, Antionum, Antiomno
Shim/Shimnilon
Corianton/ Coriantor, Coriantum, Coriantumr

And then there are the the names that are made by sticking "anti" in front of them: Anti-Nephi-Lehi, Antiomno, Antion, Antionah, Antionum, Antiparah and Antipus.

I also love that a lot of BoM names appear to come from a dictionary of known names from Charles Anthon, and we know that Joseph was aware of Anthon since he sent Martin Harris to him with the characters... and then transalted the BoM after that meeting.

(Most of these are not found in the Bible)

Mormon - Memnon (p.454) -- A war hero who lead 10,000 men to battle in the Trojan war and won. He later died in a subsequent war. He was known as a writer and inventor of the alphabet.
Cumorah - Cremera (p.214) -- 300 people died there in a battle, only one remained alive
Helorum - Helorum (p.334)
Zenos - Zeno (p.335,884-887)
Sidon - Sidon (p.763)
Alma - Alma- / Almamon (p.n17)
Melek - Melek (p.668)
Teancum - Teanum (p.763)
Pachus - Paphus(p.578)
Antion - Antion (p.106)
Antionum - Antium (p.106)
Coriantum - Corinthum(p.208)
Coriantumr - Corinthium-br (p.208)
Chemish - Chemmis (p.577)
Mosiah- Mosa (p.504)
Omni - omnis (p.557)
Pahoran - Pavorane (p.220)
Helaman - Haliacmon (p.325)
Zarahemla - Zamora (p.883)
Egyptus (PoGP) - Egyptus (p.105)
Curelom - Curium (p.219)
Irreantum - Erythraeum (p.284) -- Both terms are referring to the Arabian Sea
Nephites - Nepherites (p.520)
Antiparah - Antiparos (p.63)
Lachoneus - Laconia (p.377)
Enos - Ænos (p.19)
Ether - Æther (p.282)
Neas - Nea (p.516)
Morianton - Marmarion (p.460)
Gadianton - Gaditanum (p.305)
Corom - Coron (p.210,378)
Moroni - Morini(p.313,503)

These can be viewed @ https://archive.org/details/1827classicaldic00lempuoft

Kapow!

Patrick, Inigo, Zaphod, Rhiannon, Vilja, M'rissi, Rigmor, Bobbabadinga, Zoltan, Kellan, and Bilbo from the Lost 116 Pages.

moksha wrote: ↑Sat Dec 05, 2020 11:27 pm Patrick, Inigo, Zaphod, Rhiannon, Vilja, M'rissi, Rigmor, Bobbabadinga, Zoltan, Kellan, and Bilbo from the Lost 116 Pages.

Ha. Moksha knows that Kellan is my name, I can only assume that Moksha's real name must be Bobbabadinga.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Sun Dec 06, 2020 7:47 am

moksha wrote: ↑Sat Dec 05, 2020 11:27 pm Patrick, Inigo, Zaphod, Rhiannon, Vilja, M'rissi, Rigmor, Bobbabadinga, Zoltan, Kellan, and Bilbo from the Lost 116 Pages.

Ha. Moksha knows that Kellan is my name, I can only assume that Moksha's real name must be Bobbabadinga.

Zoltan was my temple new name!

As a missionary we would play these dumb games while knocking on doors. It started by us quizzing each other on Book of Mormon names and trying to memorize all the weird ones you have listed above. Then it got old and on a whim of someone answered the door we would ask them if they knew who Alma was, or Teancum, or ____? Then we would say you can read about that prophet in the Book of Mormon. Most of the time they would just be super confused and say sorry that person doesn’t live here.

Since people in Utah County have great difficulty being civil, wearing face masks, and generally caring for others, a new BOM version is being created with names unique to the Utah Vally culture. Here are a few examples:
Neighphy
Lyheigh
Abynadyie
Moroneighy
Amynodeighy
Heighlaman
Memberofthechurchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints formerly Mormon