What is the Christian god's real name?

by BenBoy401

From what I've read the only thing we know for certain is that the tetragrammaton is YHWH. The general consensus among scholars is that the most accurate pronunciation of the tetragrammaton is Yahweh, correct?

daki721

Well, this is controversial subject on multiply levels.First there are some people who take a distant approach to this subject and say that we can't speak about of God's name.

“We have gained no consensus as to whether we can even speak of ‘the’ name of God, and if so, what that name might be.”​

Professor David Cunningham.

This quote by Professor Cunningham shows this approach to the subject.But in contrast to his opinion there are many scholars who think this can be argued.Among the second group of scholars, there are many different opinions on this subject, so you would need to go deeper in research to find yours opinion. I will present some names and what's opinion of scholars on them.

Adon. This expression is translation from Hebrew means "lord". And this name is more preferred in Vulgate (Latin translation of the Bible) and you can find it around 7,000 times in it. You can find this name translated as "LORD" in English translations of the Bible. And it is most known "name" today. Some scholars argue that this is not a name but a title and it's not appropriate to be used as a name. You can also find word Kyrios (Greek word for lord) in septuagint and New Testament when is referring to the God. And many consider this as justification for using this as name. Latin translation of this word is Dominus and it is present in Vulgate.

Elohim. This is also Hebrew word, which can be translated as "deitie". There is, so called, general consensus that this name is not a name of the God, because it's used to describe the Angels, among other beings, too. Ex. In book of Genesis 32:28-30 there is record of Jacob fighting an Angel, and because of it Angel change his name to Israel. If you notice the end of the name, you can find "el" which is abbreviated form of Elohim. In translation Israel can be translated as "the one who fought with God".Word "God" being word Elohim. But outside of Christianity this name is considered the root of word Allah, because there are some evidences that on Aramaic this is pronounced Ellah.

Yahweh. This is also Hebrew word, which can be translated as "He Causes to Become". And unlike other names this is not descriptive name, it is a verb. In old manuscripts it's present around 7,000 times.The oldest bible scrolls founded by archaeologist, the Silver Scrolls, this name can be found seven times. And it is represented with tetragrammaton YHWH. This name is replaced during time with Adon. One explanation,for replacement, is that pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton came to be avoided in the Hellenistic period. Jews may have begun to drop the Tetragrammaton when presented alongside Adonai and subsequently expand it to cover for the Tetragrammaton in the forms of spoken prayer and written scripture. In new testament this name can be found in form of Hallelujah. In septuagint expression Kyrios is present at places where Jews use YHWH, so some argue this means that name is present in New Testament also because there thay use same expression. But there is one exception Symmachus’ translation on greek, contains the name YHWH. Fragment with this mentions is known as P. Vindobonensis Greek 39777.

There are even more names but this tree are most argued. There are even some scholars who believe all of them are just another versions of the God's name.

Sources i didn't mention:

-Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1973, volume IV,VI,VII

-Mark S. Smith (2008).God in Translation: Deities in Cross-Cultural Discourse in the Biblical World

- "Lord", International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 157.