1 Nephi 1:1 Nephi's Name

What is in a name?

It was Hugh Nibley that first proposed the question of the names in the Book of Mormon. Do these names correlate with history? Are they names that would have been used during that time and in that setting? Or are they simply inventions of the mind of Joseph Smith?

Nibley, John Gee and Matthew Brown offer interesting analyses of the name Nephi, its origins, its pronunciation and derivation.http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?id=12&table=jbms http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=insights&id=301

John Gee traces the possible origins and derivations of the name Nephi and concludes that it is a "Syro-Palestinian Semitic form of an attested Egyptian man's name dating from the Late Period in Egypt". He then answers Nibley's questions by saying that Nephi "is the proper form of a proper name of the proper gender from the proper place and proper time."

Matthew Brown analyzes the textual complexity of the internal evidence for the meaning of the name Nephi. Nephi is derived from the ancient Egyptian word "nfr" with connotates goodness and kindness. He then describes the beauty that this adds to Nephi's prose. "Nephi's use of words that translate into English as "goodly" and "goodness" makes this passage even more beautiful and meaningful if we also understand the name Nephi to denote "good," "goodly," or "goodness." The wordplay perhaps suggests why the name Nephi so befits its bearer: he is nfr, or "goodly," because he was born of "goodly parents" and is one endowed with a "knowledge of the goodness and mysteries of God.'"

Mr. Brown then continues to analyze the textual complexity by citing the reference that Helaman makes in the book of Helaman to the names Nephi and Lehi. "Behold, I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem . . . [so that] ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know . . . that they were good. Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them. Where was it written that their namesakes were "good"? In 1 Nephi 1:1, Lehi is called a "goodly" parent, and Nephi's name corresponds to the Egyptian word meaning "good." Helaman 5:6-7 implies that Helaman was aware of the meaning of the name Nephi and that he hoped this honored name would also befit his own sons by virtue of their good works."

During a class at Brigham Young University Matthew Grey, my Book of Mormon professor, also made reference to the name Nephi along with the names of his siblings. He noted the interesting correlation between the names the Lehi gives his sons and the corresponding living conditions of Lehi's family. Lehi is a jewish trader, he is well off and has knowledge of the surrounding cultures. He knows the science of the jews and the language of the Egyptians (1 Nephi 1:2). A normal progression in the business of trade would assume that Lehi began his trading in the nearby regions and then expanded into neighboring countries and cultures. This progression corresponds to the naming of his children. Laman and Lemuel are arabic names; Lehi had probably just begun his business around the birth of these two children. Nephi and Sam are Egyptian names and would correlate to the prosperity that Lehi and his family experienced when his business was expanded into Egypt. And Jacob and Joseph are the names of ancient desert patriarchs, names which Lehi gave his sons while he too wandered in the desert.

These things do not prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, God does that by sending his witness in the form of the Holy Ghost. But as Matthew Brown states, "The interplay of the name Nephi with words that are translated "goodly," "good," and "goodness" provides further evidence that the Book of Mormon is, in fact, translation literature."