Yes, the original name for Java was Oak
When Sun Microsystems first developed a programming language to power their Star7 entertainment controller, they named the language Oak.
Java and Oak
Folklore has it that when a decidedly uncreative software engineer on Sun’s programming team was asked to come up with a name, they saw a tall tree outside their office window, and submitted ‘Oak’ as the name of choice.
Unfortunately, a search revealed that a company named Oak Technologies had already trademarked the name for a language used to empower their semiconductor chips, so naming their new programming language Oak was not an option.
The original name of the programming language Java was Oak.
Oak becomes Java
Again, folklore has it that when the software engineers were one a coffee break when they discovered the original name was taken, so they decided to rename Oak to Java. Unlike Oak, Java was not registered as a trademake for any existing programming languages, and the name has stuck ever since.
But yes, the original name for the programming language Java was Oak.