Brief Etymology: the Lehite PN NEPHI may derive from ancient Egyptian words meaning “handsome” or “captain, chief.”

Extended Discussion: The personal name NEPHI may be from the Egyptian nfr, “handsome, beautiful,” reshaped to nfy, since in the period of the Late Egyptian, dating after 1000 BC, the final r of nfr-probably pronounced “Nefer” or “Noufer”—came to be pronounced as I or y, thus “Nefi.” The name also appears in Phoenician as KNPY, the Phoenician form of the original K3-nfr.w, “the ka (accompanying spirit) is good,” a genuine Egyptian personal name.

Alternatively, the name element NPY may be the Semitic transcription of the Egyptian nfw (later nfy), meaning “captain, skipper, chief of sailors.” Hugh Nibley wrote that “Nfy was the name of an ‘Egyptian captain,’ implying a personal name rather than a word meaning ‘captain.’” Still, as Egyptologist John Gee observers, “one may confidently conclude, whether from Nfr or Nfw, the name NEPHI is an attested Egyptian name.”