JavaScript was originally going to be called LiveScript, associated with LiveConnect. It was renamed for marketing reasons, because Java components were seen as

JavaScript was originally going to be called LiveScript, associated with LiveConnect. It was renamed for marketing reasons, because Java components were seen as the future for code on web pages, and it could script the interaction between different Java components (potentially from different sources). That fact it could be used equally for components written in other languages, if they were ever supported by object tags in common web UAs is why it had a more generic name initially.