Helam was the first man whom Alma baptized at Mormon (Mosiah 18:12–13). That the land should be named Helam suggests his importance among Alma’s people, probably a status that he had in Lehi-Nephi. Even though Alma’s society reduced economic differentiations, it could not have eliminated manifestations of social respect. This conjecture suggests that much of Helam’s prominence was based on personal qualities that would continue to be apparent even without the social trappings of Lehi-Nephi. Probably the same reasons that led Alma to baptize Helam first led to naming the land for him.
Why wasn’t it named for Alma? Perhaps it reflected Alma’s abhorrence of kingship. Since it was typical to name the land for the political leader (land of Nephi, land of Zarahemla, land of Mormon, etc.), Alma may have declined to have the land named for him lest it communicate assumptions of kingship.
Variant: The printer’s manuscript has “Helaman” here, which was corrected prior to the first printed edition to “Helam.” (See commentary accompanying Mosiah 18:12.)