The actual name of GOD, as told in the Old Testament, is spelled with the Hebrew letters, Yodh, He, Waw, and He. This is called the "tetra-grammaton", meaning, "the four-letter word" (not to be confused with English slang profanity, of course). The closest analogous letters for Yodh, He, and Waw - in the English alphabet - would be Y/I, for Yodh; H, for He; and W/V/U, for Waw. This means that the name could be transcribed in any of the following variations: YHWH, YHVH, YHUH, IHWH, IHVH, or IHUH. Of these, most common transcription spelling is "YHWH". In ancient Hebrew letters, it looks like this:

What happened to this original name?

In the reading of the Bible, many of the learned Jews historically had so much reverence for God that they did not speak His name aloud when it was found in the Biblical text; so, they contrived various means to circumvent it. At a place where the text reads, "Thus saith YHWH", they would not pronounce the name that was on the page. They would usually substitute the phrase "The Name" (in Hebrew: Ha Shem), "God" (in Hebrew: Elohim), or "Lord" (Hebrew: Adonai), when speaking the name instead. Generations passed. No one spoke the name, and eventually no one even remembered how to pronounce it. Similarly, when many of the English translations of the Old Testament were printed, the editors usually substituted the words "GOD", "LORD" or "The LORD", for GOD's actual name.

Does GOD's name have a meaning?

The actual name of GOD, "YHWH", is spelled similarly to a form of the Hebrew verb, "to be". Most scholars believe YHWH is related to a root word meaning "to be present" or "to exist" and probably meant either "He creates or causes" or simply "I AM", meaning that God did not depend on anyone or anything for His existence. This comes from Exodus 3:13-14, where Moses asks God what His name is, and God says "I AM WHO I AM."

How is GOD's name pronounced?

Stated rather simplisticly, ancient Hebrew did not have letters for the vowel sounds 'a', 'e', and 'o'. This does not mean that they did not have the sounds in speech. They simply were not written. It would be akin to writing in English with 'a', 'e', and 'o' unprinted. Thus, this sentence would be written as follows:

          "Thus, this sntnc wwld b writtn 's fllws."

Anyone familiar with the spoken language could figure out what had been written. In post-Biblical centuries, Jews began using tiny markings above and below the printed letters to explicitly indicate the unprinted vowels. So the obvious question is, what are the unprinted vowels for GOD's name, YHWH?

The answer to that question is complicated by two issues. First, as mentioned above, pronunciation of the name has been somewhat surpressed due to tradition. This, alone, contributes to the popular uncertainty as to its correct pronunciation. Second, for the ancient Hebrew language, there is more than one accepted system of pronunciation, and therefore there are differing opinions regarding the vowels which should be used on many words - including GOD's name.

As best the Biblical scholars can determine, the name, "YHWH", should be written with vowels as follows: "Ya-H-We-H" or "Ya-H-Ue-H" (English speakers, try saying something like, "Yahoo-Ay").

To make a long story short, the most prevalent pronunciation is the first one listed - "Yahweh".

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