Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 3:13

"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?" — Exodus 3:13 (ASV)

What is his name? — In Egypt, and wherever polytheism prevailed, every god, as a matter of course, had a name. Among the Israelites until now, God had been known only by titles, as El or Elohim, "the Lofty One"; Shaddai, "the Powerful"; Jahveh, or Jehovah, "the Existent." These titles were used with some perception of their meaning; none of them had yet passed into a proper name.

Moses, imagining that the people might have become so Egyptianized as to be no longer content with this state of things, asks God by what name he should speak of Him to them. Who should he say has appeared to him?