Steven Carr

How did an eternal God come to have a Hebrew name?

Did the Jews name God?

What was God's name before Hebrew was ever spoken?

Surely this story of God saying his name was 'Yahweh' is as fictional as God saying what his Medicare number is.

Sheshbazzar

The archaeological evidence from Ebla seems to indicate that The Name Yah (or Ya) far pre-dates the Hebrew peoples, how far is impossible to determine, as it could have been in usage even before writing was invented.
In the ANE, Ya or Yah, (in Heb. it still spelled with only two letters) was one among the thousands of names of the gods (elohim), that became more prominent and better known over the course of time.
The Hebrews were certainly not the first to employ the shorter form Yah, and were likely not even the originators of the longer form Yah'weh, as they had to be 'reminded' of it, and have its meaning 'explained' to them, that meaning, because it is so abstract and so subject to interpretation is still being debated.
Therefore the Name "Yahweh" is not Hebrew, because it did not originate in the Hebrew language, or with the Hebrew peoples, but was 'revealed' to them, and was 'institutionalized' among them to a greater degree than any others.
As to whether Yahweh in any actuality spoke out loud and declared His name to be "Yahweh", is something that rests entirely on faith, and on accepting the tales as told. But there is little to doubt that the Hebrew (among other) peoples did live and did set great store by this particular name above any other.
What Bible Criticism endeavors to establish is WHEN these stories took form, and how they were integrated into an accepted History of the Jewish nation, and became the groundworks on which the latter "Christian" and "Islamic" religions built.