As an insulting term for members of a self-proclaimed Christian church, "Mormon" is pretty tame.
Consider what other groups have been dubbed.
Protestants called Catholics "Papists" and Catholics belittled Protestants with names like "Heretic," "Schismatic" and "Separatist."
The name calling got so bad in Maryland that community leaders passed an Act of Toleration in 1649, imposing a fine of 10 shillings on anyone who used any of those "opprobrious terms" as well as "Idolater, Puritan, Independent, Presbyterian, Jesuit, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, or Round Head."
In the 17th century, members of George Fox's Religious Society of Friends were disparagingly called "Quakers," suggestive of the physical response believers had to the Holy Spirit.
In the 18th century, Mother Ann Lee's followers in the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing became known as "Shaking Quakers," or "Shakers," for their emotional and physical exuberance during worship.
Classmates ridiculed John Wesley's group as "Methodists" because they tried to follow a strict method of holy acts.
Church of the Brethren members were called "Dunkers," for their belief in adult instead of infant baptism.
And for years, Pentecostals were known to their critics as "Holy Rollers," which mocked believers' wild movements in worship.
In response, some groups simply accepted the hated nickname gracefully, while others worked tirelessly to be rid of it.
As for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the term "Mormon" has long grated on many members and church leaders.
Though the word comes from the Book of Mormon, a body of scripture that church members believe is authoritative, it was first put into use by the church's 19th-century opponents.
In recent years, LDS Church officials have tried to get people to use "Latter-day Saints," or the "LDS Church," as a shortened form for the full nine-word title.
Just last week, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles told a New York Times reporter that the church is going to push for "Church of Jesus Christ" to be used on second reference.
Though wishing no disrespect, some journalists and scholars do not think the "Church of Jesus Christ" will work as a shortened form for "LDS Church."
"It's pretty hard for a group like the Mormons to change their name to something so nondescript," said Mark Silk, director of The Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life in Hartford, Conn.
For one thing, it is too closely associated with several Protestant denominations, particularly the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ and Churches of Christ, all three claiming -- like the LDS Church -- to restore the true church of Jesus Christ.
Those three had their own naming battles, fighting over whether to be called "Disciples" or just the "Christian Church."
Today the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ are divided along liberal and conservative lines, but the names are nearly indistinguishable.
The LDS Church's efforts to change its name fit a pattern, says Brooks Holifield, professor of American religious history at Emory University in Atlanta.
Insulting names were always given to outsider groups, those who "set themselves against religious establishments," Holifield says.
As these groups moved into middle-class respectability, he says, the names were either discarded or embraced.
The groups most likely to succeed at changing a name or image are those who have strong centralized leadership, says Randall Balmer, professor of American religion at Columbia University and author of Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey Into the Evangelical Subculture in America.
Today no one would think of calling a Catholic a "Papist," or a Muslim a "Mohammadan." Jevhovah's Witnesses were once called "Russellites," after founder Charles Taze Russell. And those who followed Mary Baker Eddy were originally called "Eddyites" before the church prevailed with its preferred choice, "Christian Scientists."
For the first decade or so after the Unification Church came to the United States, followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon were viewed as subversive, cultish believers called "Moonies."
After the church began a strong public-relations campaign, the term "Moonies" was largely dropped by journalists.
"Moonie is a bad nickname," says the Rev. Sungjo Hwang, a pastor in Utah's tiny Unification Church. "Other people made it up."
Still, Hwang doesn't mind the term too much.
"Reverend Moon is a great man. He did a lot for the United States and Jesus Christ," Hwang says.
Being called a Moonie is a way of identifying him with the church founder, a man Hwang believes is infused with righteousness.
"I don't like it, but it's OK," he says.
"It's pretty hard for a group like the Mormons to change their name to something so nondescript."
Mark Silk religious scholar