Many Stakes Change Names With New Procedure

Many members of the Church have changed stakes without making a move.

A new stake-naming policy announced by the First Presidency will change the names of many stakes throughout the Church. Here is how it works:

The first word in the stake name is the name of the city where the stake center is located, and the second word in the stake name is the name of the state, province, or country where the stake is located. (Salt Lake City stakes and Brigham Young University student stakes will not use the Utah state or Provo city designations in their names.)

When there is more than one stake in the same community, the third word in the stake name may be a geographical one or some other distinctive designation. The last word in the stake name is the word “stake” itself.

Note the following examples: Calgary Stake in Alberta, Canada, is now Calgary Alberta Stake; Pocatello East Stake in Idaho is now Pocatello Idaho East Stake; Cannon Stake in Salt Lake City is now Salt Lake Cannon Stake; Brigham Young University 10th Stake remains the same; Melbourne Stake in Australia is now Melbourne Australia Fairfield Stake; Chicago Stake is now Wilmette Illinois Stake; Stuttgart Stake in Germany is now Stuttgart Germany Stake.

The stake name changeover has been completed in the general Church offices, and all correspondence now reflects the new stake names.

The new stake naming policy was made necessary by the growth of the Church. There are now more than 630 stakes in the Church, organized in 46 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and 23 other countries. The chart reflects the growth of the Church by decades. It shows the number of stakes organized from 1841 to 1973. The inset chart shows the growth of stakes outside continental United States from 1895 to 1973.