As the Mormon faith has continued to expand not only in the United States but also around the world, common family names have expanded as well. In specific geographical areas throughout the United States which have remained largely Mormon in make-up, there continues to exist the prevalence of certain names; however.
This is due to a number of reasons. Many of these areas were originally founded and settled by early members of the Mormon faith. At the time, large families were quite common and as a result, there tended to be numerous offspring and resulting families with the same surname in these locations.
Utah is a prime example of this phenomenon. Mormons first began arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. The first two pioneers to arrive in what would become Salt Lake City were Orson Pratt and Erastus Snow. Beginning in April of 1847, thousands of Mormon pioneers began to make the trek to Utah. It has been estimated that as many as 70,000 Mormon pioneers eventually made their way west to settle in Utah.
As a result of this early immigration, both from the United States as well as from other countries, a number of surnames are quite prominent in the area. These names include:
- Smith
- Brown
- Clark
- Davis
- Allen
- Johnson
- Wilson
- Jones
- Williams
- Taylor
- Snow
- Thompson
- Miller
- Stewart
- Hill
- Adams
- Harris
- Lewis
- Carter
- Robinson
- Moore
- King
- Cole
- Pratt
- Jensen
- Kimball
- Christensen
It is important to note that while many of the most common Mormon family names are English in origin, there are also some names, such as Jensen and Christensen that are not English in origin. This is likely due to the immigration of Mormon converts from other countries to the United States; Utah in particular.
One of the foremost areas of research for anyone beginning to search for their Mormon family history is to research Mormon pioneers who make the overland trek to the Utah territory. If you have been searching for a family member, you very well may discover that your ancestor was, in fact, a member of the 250+ companies that eventually traveled to Utah during the mid-19th century. The Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868 provides the most complete listing of the companies and individuals that immigrated to Utah.