Naming Customs are practices of giving people, places, and objects names connected with persons or places. The people of Nephi called “their lands, and their cities, and their villages” after the person who first possessed them, including the land of Ammonihah (Alma 8:7). The valley of Gideon was “called after that Gideon who was slain by the hand of Nehor with the sword” (Alma 2:20).
Nephi gave plates “the name of Nephi,” and they were called “the plates of Nephi, after mine own name” (1 Nephi 9:2). Mormon said, “I am called Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon” (3 Nephi 5:12). The land of Ishmael was called after Ishmael’s sons, who became Lamanites (Alma 17:19).
A father told his sons, “I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem” (Helaman 5:6-7). A son of Helaman was called Helaman “after the name of his father” (Alma 63:11). Kings who reigned after Nephi were called “second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth,” whatever their personal names were (Jacob 1:9-11).