Why did Moses ask God what His name was at the burning bush?
Moses asked because he and the Israelites were steeped in Egypt's culture, where every idol and god had a name. He anticipated that the children of Israel would ask, "What is his name?" So he wanted to know how to identify the God of their fathers to them.
Les explains that Moses had spent 40 years steeped in all the mythologies and idols of Egypt, and every idol and god in Egypt's culture had a name—whether the frog, the Nile, the sun, the stars, any animal, or a snake. Moses had not forgotten that. The children of Israel were also in Egypt, surrounded and inundated with all the gods of Egypt, and they all had a name. So when Moses came out of the backside of the desert speaking of a god, they would immediately ask, "What's his name?" Moses anticipates this question: "What is his name? What shall I say to them?" God answers, "I am that I am," and tells Moses to say, "I am hath sent me unto you."