Sophronia

I was tempted, I confess, to do a post on one of the many names featured over at the Utah Baby Namer—Pyrlynd, M'Kay, D’Loaf, Phakelikaydenicia, Desdedididawn, Leviathan!—or at least on Mitt Romney’s monosyllabic quintet—Tagg, Craig, Matt, Ben, Josh—but while reading Jan Shipps’s excellent Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition I came across this name, and I was transformed. After all, how can one be mean-spirited when one possesses the knowledge that there live and have lived women—Joseph Smith’s sister among them—named Sophronia?