[debok]

Why would Kotlin be named after Kotlin Island? What's the connection?

[sesm]

In early 2010s Java was widely used but the language and ecosystem was stagnating. This lead to an explosion of alternative JVM languages: Groovy, Scala, Clojure, etc. But most people didn't want an entirely new language, all they wanted was basically 'Java with lambdas'. One such language was Ceylon, and Jetbrains (after unsuccessfully trying Groovy) decided to create their own Ceylon and called it Kotlin.

[arrowsmith]

Kotlin runs on the Java virtual machine, Java is an island, they picked another island.

[negus]

Because early JetBrains development was based mainly in Saint Petersburg.

[pimlottc]

It’s definitely more interesting to know /who/ named something and /why/, not just /what/ it’s named after.

[lordnacho]

It's a less verbose island

[p4bl0]

It targets the JVM. Java is also an island. Maybe that's it?

[geminger]

Also the three founders of JetBrains, the developers of Kotlin, all graduated from St. Petersburg State University.