Sariah

Sariah is a Biblical name, but not from the traditional Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Rather, Sariah can be found in the Book of Mormons as the wife of the Israelite prophet Lehi (sort of a Mormon version of Abraham and Sarah). Although, according to the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (i.e., Mormonism), Sariah and her husband Lehi, along with their four sons, are commanded by God to leave Jerusalem and cross the ocean to the Americas where their own version of the “Promised Land” exists (Utah). Just like Sarah in the Old Testament, Sariah is an important matriarch among Mormons; she is the mother of Nephi and Laman who go on to establish the nations of Nephites (light-skinned nation) and Lamanites (dark-skinned nation). According to LDS scholars, apparently the prevailing opinion is that Sariah comes from the Hebrew שׂריה (Seraiah) which translates to “the Lord is prince” or “Yahweh (God) is ruler” (Seraiah is a masculine name borne from the Hebrew Biblie and Old Testament representing several minor characters, most notably the father of Ezra). For obvious reasons, the Mormon Sariah is closely associated with the Judeo-Christian Sarah, in which case the name would come from Hebrew and mean “my princess”. We’re going to go out on a limb here and assume Sariah is a name used only by those within the Mormon faith in honor of their own matriarchal figure. It appears the name is used almost exclusively in the United States.