The Names Lehi and Sariah

The fact that many have tried to defame the Book of Mormon due to the apparent discrepancy with the name Alma, that it is not supposedly a Hebraic name for men, is in reality unfounded from the start. We now know of evidence of the name Alma being used for a man in the Middle Eastern regions, but even so it is not necessary. The name Alma first appears in the Book of Mormon about 500 years after the party had left Jerusalem and 500 years is a lot of time for change. There is no reason to suppose that new names did not arise during those 500 years that the Nephites and Lamanites were separated from Jerusalem. The argument concerning the name Alma lacks foundation, but a similar argument about the names Lehi and Sariah would be valid.
Both Lehi and Sariah were most likely born in Jerusalem (there is no statement regarding their birthplace in the Book of Mormon). Their names along with the names of Lehi's sons are necessarily reflective of the Jewish culture around the year 600 b.c. Therefore, we should study their names.
Paul Hoskisson, Jeffrey R. Chadwick and Dana Pike have written good articles on just such a subject.
http://farms.byu.edu/jbms/pdf/9_1_2000_04a.pdf
http://farms.byu.edu/display.phptable=jbms&id=40&previous=L3B1YmxpY2F0aW9ucy9ib29rb2Ztb3Jtb252aWV3LnBocA http://farms.byu.edu/jbms/pdf/9_1_2000_04c.pdf

All this research concerning the names of scriptural characters is done with the knowledge that strange names without explanation can occur. For example, the name Shaphan belonged to a scribe during the time of Jeremiah and it means rabbit. Hoskisson says that had a name with similar hebraic meaning appeared in the Book of Mormon there would be millions of Joseph Smith detractors laughing. But it didn't. It teaches us that we need not be afraid of strange meanings, unless the person's name is changed by the Lord (like Abraham and Jacob). If the Lord changes a prophet's name to something really wierd like "rabbitt" or "large head" or "dung pile" then we should be a little concerned (if not for the possible anachronism then definitely for that person).
Starting with the name Lehi. It has been suggested for many years that the prophet Lehi's name comes from the Hebrew "lhy" which means "cheekbone". Now there aren't many people named after bodyparts in the Bible so this may present a problem. But it doesn't. One possible answer is that it is the shortened form of the Hebrew expression "Oh God incline thy head" or "cheek".In Western Semitic script it would be "May God let him live". Or Lehi could be a shortened combination of "Of the Living One". The ambiguity is not detrimental either, in fact it is encouraging. The fact that there are many possibilities is intriguing and good for those interested in the study.
Now Sariah. Sariah has long been criticized for being historically a masculine name. There is one attested femenine use in the Aramaic Papyrus #22 reconstructed by A.E Cowley. Because it is a reconstruction it is not certain, but it is encouraging that scholars outside the church are considering the possibility as well. The papyrus states "Sariah daughter of Hoshea", and Cowley had to reconstruct the "h".Otherwise Sariah is related to the masculine biblical name Seraiah which means "Jehovah is my prince". We should also not be offended if Sariah's name has masculine elements, there are many biblical names of females with masculine elements such as, Jezebel and Abigail.