Names, God and Lord
If we ask someone his/her name, we expect to be told a proper noun, by which that person is identified, such as John or Mary. John is a name and so is Mary. However, if that person replied by saying 'doctor' or 'nurse,' even though those titles help us to know something about the person, they do not identify a particular person. Even if it were generally accepted that the senior doctor is identified by a capital 'D,' and the head nurse by a capital 'N,' one would naturally ask, what is the personal name of the Senior Doctor or Head Nurse, for however much we dress up the titles by the use of capital letters, they still remain exactly that – titles.
From the earliest record in the Bible, we find proper names were given to the first human beings, Adam and Eve, as a means of identification. This was continued throughout the Bible and indeed for all generations worldwide. Nowhere do we find anyone, not even the adversary, being called exclusively by a title. Somehow the majority of the world and indeed Christendom think it right to make the Almighty an exception and call Him, not by a name but by the titles 'God' and 'Lord,' which, in their lower cases are used for persons or objects of worship or veneration. A capital 'G' to identify the Supreme God or a capital 'L' for the Almighty Lord is not better than the example of the doctor and nurse already mentioned above. The use of a capital letter does not cause a title to become a personal name.
There are many 'gods' and 'lords.' In most religions a superhuman, image, or idol worshipped as having power over nature or human fortunes, is called a god, but in the non-Christian religions, those gods also have a name. Venus, Apollo, Zeus, Dionysus, Hermes, Aphrodite and Hyperion are a small sample from the huge list of Greek 'gods' who were not just called 'god,' but had a specific name by which they were identified.
A 'lord' is simply a master or ruler. Historically, such a person was a feudal superior, especially of the manor. In England, a lord is a peer, that is a member of one of the degrees of the nobility, i.e. a duke, marquis, earl, viscount or baron. There are over 670 peers qualified to sit in the House of Lords but these all have personal names. Baroness Thatcher's name is Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Lord Lloyd Webber is Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Earl of Glasgow is Patrick Robin Archibald Boyle and Viscount Bledisloe is Christopher Hiley Ludlow Bathurst.
E. A. Wallis Budge, in his book Egyptian Magic (Dover Publications Inc.), states the following about the power of the names to the Egyptian. "The Egyptians, like most Oriental nations, attached very great importance to the knowledge of names, and the knowledge of how to use and to make mention of names which possessed magical powers was a necessity both for the living and the dead. It was believed that if a man knew the name of a god or a devil, and addressed him by it, he was bound to answer him and to do whatever he wished; and the possession of the knowledge of the name of a man enabled his neighbour to do him good or evil." (p. 157)
In his writing, 'An Overview of the Ancient Egyptian Religion,' John Watson states under his chapter entitled the 'Gods and Mythology of Ancient Egypt,' that the Egyptians had many gods. His list of one hundred and twenty-five Egyptian gods include Ra, the sun god, who was known as King of the gods; Isis, known as the great mother goddess, and wife of Osiris who was god of the dead. There were gods for the Nile, the sky, earth, sun, music, destruction, magic, desert, fertility, wisdom, embalming, justice, creation, cats, cows and many more, each of whom had a proper name.
Proverbs 30:4, in referring to the Creator of the universe, asked the direct question: 'What is His name?' This question, as well as many other references in the Bible makes it quite clear that He is not unique in being nameless. Our Saviour taught us to pray: 'hallowed be Thy name' (KJV). Could the titles God and Lord be hallowed (set apart, holy and sacred) when they are in common use for lesser creatures and things? Does man have the authority to make anything holy? The Almighty One has a personal name, not just a title. God is not a name. Neither is Lord or Lord God. So what is His personal name?