In 3 Nephi 9:10 a city by the name of "Laman" is mentioned. According to Ammon O'Brien, there has been a relatively recent discovery of an archaeological site in Belize, the ancient name of which was found to be "Lamanai." In 1974, excavations began at a location in Belize which until that time had been known simply as "Indian Church." David M. Pendergast, working for the Royal Ontario Museum, headed the excavation project which uncovered several principal structures of the ancient city. Upon inquiries in search of any data concerning the site which might have been written in colonial times, it was discovered that the Maya people of the region in the 16th century actually knew of the city which lay buried there, and referred to it by the name of Lamanai. While the ancient names of most archaeological sites of America have been long lost, this is one of the few which have survived. Even in the case of Teotihuacan, the name of which is centuries old, we are left without knowledge of the true ancient name, for as noted earlier, Teotihuacan is simply the name given to the site by the Aztecs when they discovered it in ruins over a thousand years ago.
It is interesting therefore that in the discovery of a pre-Classic Maya site for which an ancient name has been preserved, the name turns out to be Lamanai which compares significantly with the name of Laman. Moreover, we read in the Book of Mormon of King Lamoni who ruled over a sizeable region; hence there also might have been a "city of Lamoni." [Ammon O'Brien, Seeing beyond Today with Ancient America, pp. 369-370] [See the commentary on Alma 27:22]