The claim is often made that the word "Jehovah" means "Lord". One stated: "Jehovah is taken from the Tetragrammaton it is a title meaning Lord." (The statement has been removed from the site from which it was taken) Another claims: "Yahweh, YHWH, Jehovah means Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4; Daniel 9:14)." In discussing Leviticus 20:8, one states: "Jehovah means 'Lord' and Mekoddishkem means 'sanctifies.'" Indeed, many scholars often present "Jehovah" as meaning "Lord", ekvidently based on the Jewish custom of changing the Holy Name to some form of the Hebrew word often transliterated from the Masoretic text as ADON (meaning "Lord"). Concerning Jehovah-Jireh in Genesis 22:14, Alexander MacLaren states that Abraham "named that place by a name that spoke nothing of his trial, but everything of God’s provision - ’The Lord will see,’ or ‘The Lord will provide.’" There are so many statements similar to these that one could find many, many times. But does "Jehovah" actually mean "Lord"?
Jehovah is definitely taken from the Hebrew Tetragrammaton that represents God's Holy Name, however, that name is in verb form, and does not mean "lord". In Exodus 3:14, God reveals himself as EHJEH (many prefer Ehyeh) ASHER EHJEH, and EHJEH. EHJEH is believed to be the first person form of an active verb meaning "to be". While JEHOVAH in verse 15 is believed to be the third person form of the same verb, although many scholars treat the Hebrew tetragrammaton as being a "name", and thus present as being a noun. Most translations render the name in verse 14 as "I am", or "I will be", etc. Many translations render the third person form of the name in verse 15 as "the LORD". A few render it as "Jehovah", which is not a translation, but a transliteration of one of the forms of the Holy Name as found in the Masoretic text. The actual translation or meaning of Jehovah would mean "He is", "He will be", "He causes to be", etc. The verb in Hebrew that is often represented in English as "Jehovah" (or "Yahweh) definitely does not mean "Lord".
Evidently, however, the Jews had begun to substitute a form of ADON (Hebrew transliteration meaning "Lord") or in a form of EL (meaning "God") for Jehovah. There is, of course, nothing in the Bible whereby God has commanded that anyone change his Holy Name to other words that do not even mean the same thing.
Some claim that this was out of respect for God, but we cannot see how changing the Holy Name to "Lord" shows respect for God. It would like changing your name to "Sir" and never calling you by your name. Would you consider being called "Sir"as being your name instead of your name to be showing respect to you?
Some have noted that the Greek Septuagint renders the long form of EHJEH in Exodus 3:14 with Greek words that could rendered as "I am the Being". The short form is rendered simply as "the Being". From this, it is claimed that the name Jehovah means "Existence", or "the Eternal Being". Thus some render the Holy Name as "the Eternal". We cannot agree with this for several reasons. Both EHJEH of Exodus 3:14 and JEHOVAH of Exodus 3:15 are actually in verb form, and thus should not be "translated" with a noun. Regarding the Septuagint, ... (author reminder: need to find the Dead Sea Scroll Greek fragment for Exodus 3:14 to compare with the "Christianized" LXX)
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