By Stefanie Hubbs
Meet Brigham Udall. He is one 22 BYU students who share their first names with the second president of the LDS church and Brigham Young University''s namesake.
Raised in St. John''s, Ariz., Brigham, 22, said his name makes him easily recognizable as a member of the LDS church in a farming community that is 50 percent Mormon.
'People always ask me, ''Hey Brigham, how many wives do you have?''' he said.
His great-grandfather was one of the first Mormon settlers to found St. John''s in 1879. Brigham said the same pioneering spirit lives on in him; he wants to retire on a farm someday.
'My parents were thinking about giving me a middle name that started with the letter 'Y,' so my initials would be B.Y.U.,' Brigham said. 'My dad joked about how it would help me get a scholarship.'
Because Brigham is associated with the LDS faith by virtue of his name, he said the people of St. John''s expect him to live up to church standards.
People automatically assume he is a Mormon, he said.
'Older people instantly associate me with Brigham Young,' Brigham said. 'They refer to him as a kind of ''American Moses.'''
The eighth child in a family of nine, Brigham said he is similar to Brigham Young because he has a large number of relatives.
Brigham said his siblings have either 'really normal' names, like Travis and Ryan, or 'really strange' ones, like Symonie and Keegan. Brigham is the only child named after a religious figure in his family.
While Brigham said he is uncomfortable making comparisons between himself and his namesake, he said he likes his name because it gives him an extraordinary role model he can pattern his life after.
Brigham said he agreed with Brigham Young when he said, 'We should not only study good, and its effect upon our race, but also evil, and its consequences.'