What is the oldest known name for God?

Answer 1

The problem with the question is that the term "god" is a nebulous one. It can refer to anything with supernatural powers and therefore can range from local spirits that control a local river to omnipotent and omniscient universe creators. Whether or not any of these supernatural deities exist is purely a question of belief, so the question of whether a particular god referenced is a "true god/God" is debatable.

Local Spirits

Contrary to the assertions of the monotheistic faiths, there is absolutely no reason to believe that mankind was monotheistic in its earliest incarnations, later became polytheistic, and then "rediscovered" monotheism. Mankind has worshipped various deities since we first looked up at the night sky and pondered the question of our existence which in a logical reference for thousands of years. The concept of religious worship tracks to the birth of Behavioral Modernity, circa 50,000 B.C.E. Idols exist from this time, but as there is no writing nor surviving culture from that time, they could just be statues of people and rulers that people followed. We have these idols (from Africa predominantly), but we cannot state what the original beliefs of those people were as they do no track to any modern extant faiths.

The oldest representation of the "earth mother" is most likely Venus of Willendorf. A statue of which was discovered in 1908 and made between 22,000 and 21,000 B.C.E ( Before the christian era).

Polytheistic Divinities

It is unclear when exactly the concept of gods became more powerful, such that a god would be responsible for an element or a concept rather than a local physical entity. These gods could control all of the water or protect every home, etc. However, almost all major ancient civilizations, such as the Sumerians (the oldest currently known civilization) and the Egyptians had these types of gods. (It is unclear if China moved from local spirits to polytheistic divinities in the earlier periods.) Since the concept of polytheistic gods tracks to before civilization (otherwise how would it have proliferated in societies without sufficient contact with one another), we cannot say what the oldest polytheistic divinity is.

Sumeria was one of the oldest known civilizations on earth, Enki was the patron god of what is accepted as the oldest city on Earth, and the Monotheistic God is based on Sumerian myth of Enki or Marduk. There is also the god Anu, who was another of the oldest gods in the Sumerian pantheon and part of a triad including Enlil (god of the air) and Enki (god of water). Sumerian myth also has a creation myth that reads almost exactly like the Biblical creation myth, and also has a flood myth that is almost identical. Otherwise, the Egyptian sun god Amun Ra would be a close runner up.

Hades is also believed to be the oldest Greek god, but since Aegean civilization is much younger than Ancient Sumer or ancient Egypt, it is certainly not the oldest god.

Monotheism

The earliest clear articulation of monotheism was the religion of Pharaoh Akhenaton called Atenism which existed in the 14th century B.C.E. However, this religion died with the Pharaoh twenty years later. Depending on whether Zoroastrianism is considered to be monotheistic, which is dubious given the amount of power Angra Mainyu weilds against Ahura Mazda, the clearest archaelogical articulations of "modern" monotheism track to the 5th century B.C.E. in Babylon (the Jews) or the 6th century B.C.E. in Persia (the Zoroastrians). Archaeology does not support the Biblical claim that Abraham and Moses lived nor that the Ancient Israelites were purely monotheistic. On the contrary, archaeology holds that there were several important Canaanite gods in the Israelite pantheon and monolatry (i.e. the acceptance of many gods, but the worship of only one) began in the reign of King Josiah. The rejection of the other gods, which was necessary for monotheism, was what occurred in Babylon.

Among Monotheist Believers

The oldest known God would be found in the mythos of the Middle East.

Thus oldest known God is 'Elohim', the God of the Old Testament. He was first known at Creation, and you can't get much earlier than that! By definition, it is immaterial how long ago that was. By the way, it is incorrect to call 'Elohim' the Jewish God at Creation [dated at 4004BC Ussher] because Judah was not born until much later in 1755BC [Ussher].

The Middle East was the home of The God of Abraham, the God of Ur, and the various ideas of God in pre-Egypt and Pre-Hindu God-ideas of their respective regions. Both Egypt and India were at a time monotheistic in theory. But when each corresponding nation was established, their governments accepted all the ideas of God as individual gods, because it served to keep their nations together. Considering most religions can find their origins in India, we could state the oldest potential God is found there.

[See notes on the Biblical God in the Discussion Section.]

Answer 2

The anonymous biblical source now known as the Yahwist used the name YHWH (Yahweh) for God. He represented traditions in the southern Hebrew Kingdom of Judah in the ninth century BCE. Some scholars believe that YHWH was the same God as the Midianite god YHW.

The anonymous biblical source now known as the Elohist used the name Elohim for God. He represented traditions in the northern Hebrew Kingdom of Israel, probably in the eighth century BCE. Elohim is the plural form of El, the name by which the Elohist's God had been known for many centuries by the Israelite's Canaanite ancestors. Scholars see a continuity from the ancient Canaanite El to the Israelite Elohim.
On this evidence, the use of Yahweh in scriptural texts somewhat predates the use of Elohim by perhaps a century, but both names have precedents that date back to much earlier times.

Answer 3

The oldest if I remember comes from the Ancient Sumerians from Sumer, what is now know as Modernday Iraq.