This is a List of Mormon place names, meaning towns and other places named, in modern times, after places and people in the
Book of Mormon, after Mormon leaders during the settlement of Utah, or after other elements of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' history. See
List of Book of Mormon places for a reference list of locations mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and
List of Book of Mormon people for persons mentioned therein. The intention is to list all places named (usually by Mormons) for specifically Mormon places and people, where those names are not otherwise generally known as Biblical (meaning from the Old and New Testaments) to non-Mormons.[Note 1]
According to John W. Van Cott in his 1990 work Utah Place Names, the Mormons named more places in Utah than any other group or individual in the state.[1]Salt Lake City Tribune author Davidson noted, in 2018, that "Utah cities and towns were named for at least five
church presidents, 10
apostles, 11
stake presidents, nine
bishops, two biblical figures and three Book of Mormon prophets, among other things."[1] Similar general works for other regions, such as Idaho Place Names, identify numerous other Mormon place names.
The intention is to list all modern usages of place names that are clearly Mormon, to exclusion of other Christian place names. Those starred are from the Book of Mormon, or modern revelation.
Ammon, Idaho, originally South Iona, the area was made a ward in the church in 1889 with Arthur M. Rawson as
bishop, who renamed the town in honor of
Ammon, a figure in the LDS book of scripture, the
Book of Mormon.
Deseret (Book of Mormon) is the word for "honeybees" in land of the Jaredites, in the
Book of Mormon. "Brigham Young wanted pioneers to be as industrious as honeybees and used the name in many places and ways. When Latter-day Saints first sought statehood, they applied using the name 'State of Deseret.'"[1]
Enoch, Texas, founded by LDS and named after the Order of Enoch.
Samuel O. Bennion's organization of the Enoch Branch in 1911.[12][13] The first Latter-day Saint settlers had arrived in 1906.[13] In 1908 a Sunday School was organized at Enoch. In 1910 a building was built for the Sunday School.[14] In 1930 it was only one of eight communities in Texas where the church owned a chapel.[15]
Ephraim*
Ephraim, Utah - the special significance here is that the Tribe of Ephraim is said to restore the gospel to the earth and many modern Mormons are said to belong to it.
Heber City, Utah, named for apostle
Heber C. Kimball. Heber "had baptized many of the city’s early residents as a missionary in England before they immigrated."[1]
Hyrum, Utah, in
Cache County was named for
Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith's brother. A twin settlement was intended to be founded nearby and named Joseph, but it never happened.[1]
Iona
Iona, Idaho "Iona: According to the town’s own history book, Iona was named by LDS Church President
John Taylor. He visited early settlers in the area, then known as Sand Creek, and apparently suggested the name “Iona”, claiming it was the name of a small town in Israel that meant “beautiful”."[17] It is also the name of an
island in Scotland.
Iosepa
Iosepa, Utah, uses the
Hawaiian word for "Joseph", and is named for missionary
Joseph F. Smith who recruited
Polynesians to settle in Skull Valley.[3] Settlers included
Samoans and
Māori as well as
Native Hawaiians. It was tough going. Later when Smith was LDS church president, returns to Hawaii were funded, and the town became a ghost town.
Kaysville, Utah, honors
William Kay, the first LDS bishop in its area. Early settlers, including Kay, wanted to name it "Freedom". "But Brigham Young asked, 'When did Bishop Kay’s ward get its freedom?' Young pushed the name Kaysville instead."[1] also [3]
Kingston, Utah, in
Piute County, is named for
Thomas Rice King, who was a Latter-day Saint bishop who moved from Fillmore to Piute County with his five sons and their families to establish a United Order.[19]
Lehi, Utah, "Named for a Book of Mormon prophet. It was chosen because its early pioneers had moved often, much like the scriptural prophet Lehi, who traveled from Jerusalem to the Americas."[1]
Manti is the name of a city in the Book of Mormon and also of
Manti, a soldier
Manti, Utah, as a new community, was named by
Brigham Young after the city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. "Honors a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Originally, Danish settlers there had named it
Copenhagen."[1]
Manti, Iowa, was a Mormon settlement which failed, many of whose settlers moved to
Shenandoah, Iowa, instead.
Manti Crater on Mars, named for the community in Utah.
Martin's Cove
Martin's Cove, in what is now Wyoming, is named for the
Martin Handcart Company. In November 1856, about 500
Mormon emigrants in the Martin Handcart Company were halted for five days in the Cove by snow and cold while on their way to
Salt Lake City.[22] The Martin Handcart company had begun its journey on July 28, 1856, which was dangerously late in the season and would ultimately lead to the disaster. Although the number who died in the Cove is unknown, more than 145 members of the Martin Company died before reaching Salt Lake City.[23]
Milo
Milo, Idaho "Milo: First, there was a small settlement named Leorin, as well as a Leorin School. An LDS ward was organized there in 1900 and called the Milo Ward after Milo Andrus, an LDS pioneer who led a company across the plains to the Intermountain West. It’s probable that the Milo name then just became a common way for Mormons to refer to the area, so it stuck."[17]
Moroni, Utah, in
Sanpete County, named for
Moroni, last prophet in
Book of Mormon, "the same man who Joseph Smith said appeared to him as an angel (and is featured in statue form atop many Latter-day Saint temples)."[1]
Mount Pisgah
Mount Pisgah, Iowa, was named by LDS
apostleParley P. Pratt, who, when he first saw the modest hill, was reminded of the biblical Pisgah (Deuteronomy 3:27) where
Moses viewed the Promised Land.
Nauvoo*
The original Nauvoo is in Illinois, named by
Joseph Smith and was founded by church members. The name is derived from the traditional
Hebrew language with an
anglicized spelling. The word comes from
Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains...” (/ˈnɔːvuː/; etymology:
Hebrew: נָאווּ,
Modern: Navu,
Tiberian: Nâwû, “they are beautiful”)
Preston, Idaho "Preston: The settlement was originally called Worm Creek, but renamed in honor of William B. Preston, a prominent LDS Church authority who was an early settler of Cache Valley."[17]
Rigby, Idaho "Rigby: Your town was named by LDS Church President
John Taylor after
William F. Rigby, a Driggs resident who had assisted in the settlement and early organization of the LDS Church in the area."[17]
^So this will include places named after
Lehi (Book of Mormon prophet), but should not include places, if there are any, named after
Lehi (Bible), a somewhat obscure place in the
Book of Judges in the Old Testament. This does not include places generally known to be Biblical/Christian, such as most
listed as biblical place names in North America. For example Goshen, is notably the name of a bible place, and was used as name for
Goshen, Utah in
Utah County, by the first LDS bishop of that area, Phineas Cook, but he named it after his birthplace,
Goshen, Connecticut, according to Davidson. Which is named after
Land of Goshen in Egypt, mentioned in the Old Testament, so Goshen, Utah is only indirectly named for a biblical place, and the biblical place is not specifically Mormon, so it is doubly not the type of place covered in this list.
This is a List of Mormon place names, meaning towns and other places named, in modern times, after places and people in the
Book of Mormon, after Mormon leaders during the settlement of Utah, or after other elements of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' history. See
List of Book of Mormon places for a reference list of locations mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and
List of Book of Mormon people for persons mentioned therein. The intention is to list all places named (usually by Mormons) for specifically Mormon places and people, where those names are not otherwise generally known as Biblical (meaning from the Old and New Testaments) to non-Mormons.[Note 1]
According to John W. Van Cott in his 1990 work Utah Place Names, the Mormons named more places in Utah than any other group or individual in the state.[1]Salt Lake City Tribune author Davidson noted, in 2018, that "Utah cities and towns were named for at least five
church presidents, 10
apostles, 11
stake presidents, nine
bishops, two biblical figures and three Book of Mormon prophets, among other things."[1] Similar general works for other regions, such as Idaho Place Names, identify numerous other Mormon place names.
The intention is to list all modern usages of place names that are clearly Mormon, to exclusion of other Christian place names. Those starred are from the Book of Mormon, or modern revelation.
Ammon, Idaho, originally South Iona, the area was made a ward in the church in 1889 with Arthur M. Rawson as
bishop, who renamed the town in honor of
Ammon, a figure in the LDS book of scripture, the
Book of Mormon.
Deseret (Book of Mormon) is the word for "honeybees" in land of the Jaredites, in the
Book of Mormon. "Brigham Young wanted pioneers to be as industrious as honeybees and used the name in many places and ways. When Latter-day Saints first sought statehood, they applied using the name 'State of Deseret.'"[1]
Enoch, Texas, founded by LDS and named after the Order of Enoch.
Samuel O. Bennion's organization of the Enoch Branch in 1911.[12][13] The first Latter-day Saint settlers had arrived in 1906.[13] In 1908 a Sunday School was organized at Enoch. In 1910 a building was built for the Sunday School.[14] In 1930 it was only one of eight communities in Texas where the church owned a chapel.[15]
Ephraim*
Ephraim, Utah - the special significance here is that the Tribe of Ephraim is said to restore the gospel to the earth and many modern Mormons are said to belong to it.
Heber City, Utah, named for apostle
Heber C. Kimball. Heber "had baptized many of the city’s early residents as a missionary in England before they immigrated."[1]
Hyrum, Utah, in
Cache County was named for
Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith's brother. A twin settlement was intended to be founded nearby and named Joseph, but it never happened.[1]
Iona
Iona, Idaho "Iona: According to the town’s own history book, Iona was named by LDS Church President
John Taylor. He visited early settlers in the area, then known as Sand Creek, and apparently suggested the name “Iona”, claiming it was the name of a small town in Israel that meant “beautiful”."[17] It is also the name of an
island in Scotland.
Iosepa
Iosepa, Utah, uses the
Hawaiian word for "Joseph", and is named for missionary
Joseph F. Smith who recruited
Polynesians to settle in Skull Valley.[3] Settlers included
Samoans and
Māori as well as
Native Hawaiians. It was tough going. Later when Smith was LDS church president, returns to Hawaii were funded, and the town became a ghost town.
Kaysville, Utah, honors
William Kay, the first LDS bishop in its area. Early settlers, including Kay, wanted to name it "Freedom". "But Brigham Young asked, 'When did Bishop Kay’s ward get its freedom?' Young pushed the name Kaysville instead."[1] also [3]
Kingston, Utah, in
Piute County, is named for
Thomas Rice King, who was a Latter-day Saint bishop who moved from Fillmore to Piute County with his five sons and their families to establish a United Order.[19]
Lehi, Utah, "Named for a Book of Mormon prophet. It was chosen because its early pioneers had moved often, much like the scriptural prophet Lehi, who traveled from Jerusalem to the Americas."[1]
Manti is the name of a city in the Book of Mormon and also of
Manti, a soldier
Manti, Utah, as a new community, was named by
Brigham Young after the city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. "Honors a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Originally, Danish settlers there had named it
Copenhagen."[1]
Manti, Iowa, was a Mormon settlement which failed, many of whose settlers moved to
Shenandoah, Iowa, instead.
Manti Crater on Mars, named for the community in Utah.
Martin's Cove
Martin's Cove, in what is now Wyoming, is named for the
Martin Handcart Company. In November 1856, about 500
Mormon emigrants in the Martin Handcart Company were halted for five days in the Cove by snow and cold while on their way to
Salt Lake City.[22] The Martin Handcart company had begun its journey on July 28, 1856, which was dangerously late in the season and would ultimately lead to the disaster. Although the number who died in the Cove is unknown, more than 145 members of the Martin Company died before reaching Salt Lake City.[23]
Milo
Milo, Idaho "Milo: First, there was a small settlement named Leorin, as well as a Leorin School. An LDS ward was organized there in 1900 and called the Milo Ward after Milo Andrus, an LDS pioneer who led a company across the plains to the Intermountain West. It’s probable that the Milo name then just became a common way for Mormons to refer to the area, so it stuck."[17]
Moroni, Utah, in
Sanpete County, named for
Moroni, last prophet in
Book of Mormon, "the same man who Joseph Smith said appeared to him as an angel (and is featured in statue form atop many Latter-day Saint temples)."[1]
Mount Pisgah
Mount Pisgah, Iowa, was named by LDS
apostleParley P. Pratt, who, when he first saw the modest hill, was reminded of the biblical Pisgah (Deuteronomy 3:27) where
Moses viewed the Promised Land.
Nauvoo*
The original Nauvoo is in Illinois, named by
Joseph Smith and was founded by church members. The name is derived from the traditional
Hebrew language with an
anglicized spelling. The word comes from
Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains...” (/ˈnɔːvuː/; etymology:
Hebrew: נָאווּ,
Modern: Navu,
Tiberian: Nâwû, “they are beautiful”)
Preston, Idaho "Preston: The settlement was originally called Worm Creek, but renamed in honor of William B. Preston, a prominent LDS Church authority who was an early settler of Cache Valley."[17]
Rigby, Idaho "Rigby: Your town was named by LDS Church President
John Taylor after
William F. Rigby, a Driggs resident who had assisted in the settlement and early organization of the LDS Church in the area."[17]
^So this will include places named after
Lehi (Book of Mormon prophet), but should not include places, if there are any, named after
Lehi (Bible), a somewhat obscure place in the
Book of Judges in the Old Testament. This does not include places generally known to be Biblical/Christian, such as most
listed as biblical place names in North America. For example Goshen, is notably the name of a bible place, and was used as name for
Goshen, Utah in
Utah County, by the first LDS bishop of that area, Phineas Cook, but he named it after his birthplace,
Goshen, Connecticut, according to Davidson. Which is named after
Land of Goshen in Egypt, mentioned in the Old Testament, so Goshen, Utah is only indirectly named for a biblical place, and the biblical place is not specifically Mormon, so it is doubly not the type of place covered in this list.