Actually, the vowel marks in the word YHWH aren't for the name itself, but rather, the vowel marks for the word "Adonai" ("Lord")--a reminder to the reader that when he comes to the word "YHWH", he should say "Adonai" instead. (That's what's done, for example, in Torah reading and prayers.)
As I understand it, a medieval Christian scholar saw the four-letter word YHWH, with the vocalization marks for "Adonai", and mistakenly thought that they were the vowels for the Name itself. As a result, he pronounced it "Yehowah", and that's where the name "Jehovah" comes from.
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