1st Edition

Perspectives on Latter-day Saint Names and Naming Names, Identity, and Belief

Edited By Dallin D. Oaks, Paul Baltes, Kent Minson Copyright 2023
    318 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Perspectives on Latter-day Saint Names and Naming approaches cultural, historical, and doctrinal dimensions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a fresh lens that explores how these dimensions intersect with names and naming.

    Featuring a collection of chapters from multiple authors, its bipartite structure examines fascinating topics in relation to the Church, looking first at cultural and historical perspectives before analyzing doctrinal and scriptural perspectives. The book discusses such matters as how contemporary naming practices of Latter-day Saints compare to those outside the faith, how code names were used in one of the faith’s books of scripture to protect Church leaders from persecution, and how names and naming relate to the covenant identity of Church members.

    Through its fresh approach to understanding religious identity and belief in relation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this book is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of Mormon studies and will also be of interest to people with a fascination with names and naming issues as those occur in a variety of settings, including religious ones.

    1. Introduction to Perspectives on Latter-day Saint Names and Naming: Names, Identity, and Belief

    Dallin D. Oaks

    Part 1: Cultural and Historical Perspectives

    2. Place Names of the Mormon West: Religion, Heritage, and Idiosyncrasy

    Richard H. Jackson

    3. Scandinavian Influences on Anthroponyms and Toponyms in Utah

    Lynn Henrichsen, George Bailey, Timothy Wright, and Jacob Huckaby

    4. Nameways in Latter-day Saint History, Custom, and Folklore

    Eric A. Eliason

    5. Composite LDS Given Names

    Don E. Norton

    6. Contemporary Latter-day Saint Naming

    Cleveland K. Evans

    7. Early Latter-day Saint Code-Names

    John A. Tvedtnes

    Part 2: Doctrinal and Scriptural Perspectives

    8. Onomastics and Latter-day Saint Belief

    Dallin D. Oaks

    9. The Doctrine of Names in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ

    Joseph Fielding McConkie

    10. Book of Mormon Names: Beyond Etymology

    John Gee

    11. Striking While the Irony is Hot: Hebrew Onomastics and Their Function Within the Book of Mormon Text

    Matthew L. Bowen

    12. "Like a Shadow that Accompanies the Body": Names and Naming in the Ancient World

    Stephen D. Ricks

    13. Book of Mormon Names: A Collection that Defies Expectation

    Brad Wilcox, Wendy Baker-Smemoe, Sharon Black, and Bruce L. Brown.

    Index

    Biography

    Dallin D. Oaks is a professor of English Linguistics at Brigham Young University, and the author or editor of several books, including Linguistics at Work and Structural Ambiguity in English (2 vols.).

    Paul Baltes edits academic books and other creative works. He has been researching names since his MA Thesis. He continues to research and apply how we process meaning in business and leadership organizations.

    Kent Minson has worked in editing and publishing for over two decades and is currently the manager of BYU Academic Publishing.