It seems most fitting that this people be known as Ammonites, given that Ammon, like them, had once been unholy and unruly, and yet when converted had become a man of powerful faith and courage.
“They Were Called… the People of Ammon”
Upon settling in the land of Jershon, the Lamanite converts—or the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, as they had chosen to call themselves (see Alma 24:1)—became designated by their Nephite neighbors as Ammonites, or the people of Ammon. Thus this nation within a nation was named after the chief missionary who had labored among them and who now became their presiding high priest (see Alma 30:20).