Reserved Temple Names to be Automatically Released After Two Years of Inactivity

Within the next few months, the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will start releasing reserved temple names if no progress has been made in the last two years.

If the most recent ordinance was completed more than two years ago, the Family History department will release the name for others to find and complete the temple work. Ron Tanner reports on the FamilySearch blog that the releasing of names is in part due to the large quantity of names that are reserved and haven’t had any of the work completed in at least two years. The First Presidency has instructed that temple work for ancestors should be done in a timely manner, and in order to comply with this instruction, it has become a priority to release inactive temple names. 

Tanner reports,

[pull_quote_center]There are nearly 12 million ordinance reservations held by FamilySearch patrons in Family Tree. Amazingly, 5 percent of FamilySearch patrons hold 60 percent of those reservations.[/pull_quote_center]

Individuals who have a long list of reserved names will receive an email alerting them of this upcoming change. Individuals who do not want their temple names to be released should work quickly to complete some of the temple work. One way to ensure the work is done in a timely manner is to share the ordinances with others.

Recruiting the help of temple worthy family members is quick and easy when done via email. This is a cardless way to share temple ordinances with loved ones and get help completing your ancestor’s temple work. Another option is to release the names to the temple. This allows the temple work for your ancestors to be done quickly as there are always members attending the temple who need proxy names and did not bring any of their own.

If you wish to complete the names yourself, there is also the option to unreserve any names you have and then reserve them again. This will reset the two-year count and give you more time to complete the work.

Individuals who do nothing with their current reserved names will automatically have the names released, allowing another individual to reserve the names for temple work.