The Nephites believed in Christ; they wrote and prophesied of him and his mission, and while there is no opprobrium that can justly be attached to one who believes in the Book of Mormon, there is no valid reason why Latter-day Saints should speak of themselves as ‘Mormons’ or of the Church as the ‘Mormon Church.’ Missionaries should not be engaged in ‘selling Mormonism, ’ but in the mission of persuading people to believe in Christ, the Son of God, and of becoming members of his Church—The Church of Jesus Christ. The term Latter-day Saints is added to the name merely to distinguish us from the former-day Saints… .While there can be no disgrace nor condemnation in being called ‘Mormons, ’ and the Church, the ‘Mormon Church, ’ the fact remains, and this we should all emphasize, that we belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the name the Lord has given by which we are to be known and called.
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:174-75)
