Tetragrammaton
The Tetragrammaton (Greek: τετραγράμματον *word with four letters*) is the Hebrew name for God, which is spelled (in Hebrew); י (*yod*) ה (*heh*) ו (*waw*) ה (*heh*) or יהוה (YHWH), it is the distinctive personal name of the God of Israel.
Of all the names of God in the Old Testament, that which occurs most frequently is the Tetragrammaton, appearing 6,823 times according to the [JewishEncyclopedia.com](http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=52&letter=N) (*http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=52&letter=N*). According to *Biblica Hebraica* and *Biblica Hebraica Stuttgartensia*, the original texts of the Hebrew Scriptures, written in both Hebrew and Aramaic, contain the Tetragrammaton 6,828 times. It is evident that the Tetragrammaton was used very extensively in original language, ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts. This indicates a much more personal reference to the special identity of the Almighty (as opposed to impersonal titles such as “God” or “Lord”), on the part of the Bible writers. Many Bible scholars view this as evidence that the Bible writers (and indeed, likely the ancient Hebrew and Israelite people) viewed the Name represented by the Tetragrammaton as very important, and commonly used it in their everyday speech and prayers. And, for those that believe the Bible was inspired by God, it shows how he felt about his own personal name.
In Judaism, the Tetragrammaton is the ineffable name of God, and is not pronounced. In reading aloud of the scripture or in prayer, it is replaced with “Adonai” (“my Lord”).
One theory regarding the Tetragammaton is that the Jewish taboo on its pronunciation was so strong that the original pronunciation may have been lost somewhere in the first millennium. Since then, many scholars (particularly Christians) have sought to reconstruct its original pronunciation.