Substituted Names in the Published Revelations of Joseph Smith

Until 1981, editions of the Doctrine and Covenants contained seven revelations with pseudonyms of individuals and places, thus cloaking original identities. These substituted names occur in all editions of the D&C from 1835 on, although the practice of bracketing the real names next to the substituted names began with the 1876 edition. By the 1921 edition almost all the real names had been identified. In the 1981 edition the code names were removed from the text in all but four cases, and the identity of one of these four is suggested in a textual note. It is the purpose of this essay to review the history of these substituted names and, based on a recently discovered document, to reveal the identities of the remaining three names. The seven printed revelations which contained the substituted names were received by Joseph Smith between 1832 and 1834.