Background Information...

Oh My Goddess! is actually from the manga series "Aaa! Megamisamaa," by Fujishima Kousuke.  "Aaa" is an expression like "Oh!" or "Ah!" and "Megamisama" means goddess...with an extended "a" for emphasis.  When the original series was ready to be published the english translation was "Ah! My Goddess."  At the time Mr. Fujishima was not aware of the English play on "Oh my god!", but it was brought to his attention.  He desired that it be called Oh My Goddess!.

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In Oh My Goddess! the concepts of the the goddesses and the heavens are based on the Norns of Nordic Mythology.  Yggdrasil, or the life tree, is the heavens in the series.  Except now instead of a tree, it is a giant computer system that keeps track of the contracts (promises) people make, regulates the systems of the earth, and is the place where the goddesses work before they come to Earth.
The original goddesses were Verthandi (or Verthande), Urd (or Urthr) and Skuld, who were the goddesses of fate.  Each of these goddesses had their own domain in time; Urd, the past, Verthandi, the present, and Skuld, the future.
For the Japanese, Verthandi was changed to a more pronounceable "Berudandi," because there are no "Ve" of "th" sounds.  Somewhere along the line, a roman alphabet version of the name was needed, one that could still be read by Japanese, and it then came Belldandy.
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Information obtained and excerpts from leaflet in OAV#1 "Moonlight and Cherry Blossoms"