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[RRD]

The above question was asked in another forum. My response:

The big difference is that one has a "W" where the other one has a "V".  This is speaking from the English alphabet standpoint. While there are many theories and assumptions presented by some who claim to know exactly what sound in English is represented by the corresponding Hebrew letters, in reality, we probably only have an approximation of those sounds represented by whatever English letters we use to correspond with similar sounds as they were originally spoken in the Hebrew. Nor do we know how the Hebrew sounds might have changed over the centuries of the Old Testament times. Some argue that the English vowels that should be supplied should be "a" and "e", giving us Yahweh or Yahveh. Others present some strong arguments that the Masoretic text is correct in the usgage of the vowel points, and thus an argument is made for Yehowah, or Yehovah. The two most commonly used renderings of the tetragrammaton into English are "Yahweh" (based on the Greek) and "Jehovah" (based on the Hebrew Masoretic text). However, it is not completely correct to say that either one of these are Hebrew; they are both English renderings of the same holy name. Similarly, we have two commonly used renderings of the name of the Son of God (and the son of Nun), that is, "Jesus" and "Joshua". Both are acceptable renderings, and should be viewed as variations of the same name, not as two separate names. Jesus is based on the Latin, while Joshua is based more on the Hebrew. The point is that names do change in pronunciation from language to language. Some make a big deal about "Jehovah" being an English name, and claim that Yahweh is an Hebrew name, etc. This is nonsense. Many, if not most, linguists refer to these changes in pronunciation from language to language and variations of the same name.