What is the significance of the names Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni?

Thomas R. Valletta

“There were three sons of Pahoran named Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni. Paanchi is the one indisputable Egyptian name in the Book of Mormon. Nobody can ever dispute that, either that Joseph Smith could have invented it or that it could not be pure, 100% Egyptian, because Paanchi [Piankhi] was a very important person in Egyptian history, just before Lehi’s day. It means ‘Amon is my life.’ And Pacumeni and Pahoran mean the person is a Syrian. That’s what an Egyptian would call a person from northern Palestine. These are familiar Egyptian names” (Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, 3:197–98).

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