说起Java这个名称是怎么来的，在世界上还流传着不同版本的传说。
1.咖啡说
1995年，SUN公司和好莱坞准备开展一个技术交流会，皆以宣传公司的产品。James Gosling带着他的系统来到了技术交流会。但他不能用OAK这个名字了。OAK已经被一家半导体公司注册了，并且注册了好多领域，只能换名。James Gosling四处观望寻找灵感，他看到了一个泡咖啡的杯子，杯子上印着Java，James Gosling就把这种语言改名为Java。
2.度假说
1994年6、7月间，在经历了一场历时三天的头脑风暴的讨论后，Green团队决定再一次改变了努力的目标，这次他们决定将该技术应用于万维网。他们认为随着Mosaic浏览器的到来，因特网正在向同样的高度互动的远景演变，而这一远景正是他们在有线电视网中看到的。此时Green小组组员正在在印度尼西亚爪哇岛（Java）度假时，于是他们把Oak改名为Java。
3.简写说
Java命名来源于开发人员名字的组合：James Gosling、Arthur Van Hoff和Andy Bechtolsheim首字母的缩写。
4.头脑风暴说
关于Java命名的由来，James Gosling是曾经这样回答过Jonathan Schwartz，原文如下：
From: James Gosling
Date: August 24, 2007 8:16:58 PM PDT
To: Jonathan Schwartz
Subject: How was Java named?
The story goes like this:
We needed a name. We had been using "oak" (which was selected essentially randomly by me), and while the team had grown attached to it, the trademark lawyers ruled it out. We had lots of email debates about names, but nothing got resolved. We ended up in the awkward position where the #1 thing stopping us from shipping was the name.
Our marketing lead knew someone who was a "naming consultant" (I don't remember his name, but he was great). We could neither afford the price nor the time of a conventional product naming process. He agreed to do something rather odd, but effective and quick: he acted as a facilitator at a meeting where about a dozen of us locked ourselves in a room for an afternoon. He started asking us questions like "How does this thing make you feel?" (Excited!) "What else makes you feel that way?" (Java!) We ended up with a board covered with essentially random words. Then he put us through a sorting process where we ended up with a ranking of the names. We ended up with a dozen name candidates and sent them off to the lawyers: they worked down the list until they hit one that cleared their search. "Java" was the fourth name on the list. The first name on the list was "Silk", which I hated but everyone else liked. My favorite was "Lyric", the third one on the list, but it didn't pass the lawyers test. I don't remember what the other candidate names where.
So, who named Java? Marketing organized the meeting, the consultant ran it, and a whole pile of us did a lot of yelling out of random words. I'm honestly not real sure who said "Java" first, but I'm pretty sure it was Mark Opperman.
There certainly wasn't any brilliant marketing mind who went through a coherent thought process.
中文翻译如下：
我们需要一个名字。我们已经使用了oak（那是我随机挑选的），然而当开发团队接触它的时候，这个商标已经被律师排除了。我们收到许多关于命名争论的电子邮件，但是问题没有解决。我们需要结束这种棘手的处境，阻挠我们前进的首要问题就是这命名。
我们市场部领导了解到某人是“命名顾问”（我不记得他的名字了，但是他是很棒）。我们既不可能提供金钱也不可能提供时间用于常规产品的命名过程。他同意做个临时的事，但是要高效和快捷：一天下午，我们大概十二个人将自己锁在一个房间内，他在会上充当一个主持人。他让我们写一些名称来做一个挑选。我们最终写了十二个候选名称，并且将其送达给律师团审阅。律师团看了列表，选定了能排出其它名称的候选项。“Java”是列表里的第四个名称。列表里的第一个名称是“Silk”，那是我讨厌但是其他人喜欢的名称。我最喜欢的是列表里的第三个名称“Lyric”，但是它没有通过律师团的审核。我不记得其它候选名称了。
为什么命名Java呢？市场部组织了一个会议，顾问提名，我们全体人员喊出随机的词语。说实话，我真的不确定谁最先说“Java”，但是我有很有把握说这人是Mark Opperman。
确实不存在任何杰出的市场理念能够通过一致的认可。