The Surprising Meanings of "Abish" and 5 Other Book of Mormon Names

Keywords

Hebrew name meanings, Noah’s name, Book of Mormon names

Abstract

In ancient Israelite storytelling, the meaning of personal names was used to enhance the memorability of a story. Consider the name of Noah in Genesis 6–9. His name in Hebrew, nōaḥ, means “rest,” which represents a major theme in Noah’s story: The dove sought rest as it searched for land. The ark finally rested on a mountaintop. In addition, Noah’s name written backward, ḥn, means “grace,” pointing to a sub-theme of the Noah story, highlighted in Genesis 6:8, where we read that “Noah [nḥ] found grace [ḥn] in the sight of God.” By learning the meanings within Noah’s name, ancient listeners could remember that they, like Noah, could find rest through the grace of God.

This same ancient Israelite practice of using names to express a key theme in a story also applies to names in the Book of Mormon. Here are a handful of these names with meanings that may surprise and inspire you.1

Original Publication Citation

Beautiful Meanings Behind Book of Mormon Names, Taylor Halverson, Brad Wilcox, and Matt Bowen, LDS Living Magazine, March/April, pp. 18-21, 2018.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2018

Publisher

LDS Living

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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