The need to change the name of Java EE arose because while Oracle handed over the open source version of Java to the Eclipse Foundation, it kept the names 'Java' and 'javax' and refused permission for their use.

The move to use the new name for the documents was explained by Wayne Beaton, marketing manager for the Eclipse Foundation. He said that to keep things simple, developers should use the name of the specification as the project name, with a naming rules that replace “Java” with “Jakarta” (e.g. “Java Message Service” becomes “Jakarta Message Service”), and add a space in cases where names are mashed together (e.g. “JavaMail” becomes “Jakarta Mail”). If Jakarta is missing, it should be added, and Jakarta should be put to the front of names where it's in the middle.

This will make it clearer when an application is using the Jakarta era language. Jakarta EE now refers to version 9 or above, while Java EE refers to Java EE 8 back to Java EE 5, so covers the period from 2017 to 2006. J2EE refers to Java EE 4 and below.

Beaton points out that the renaming hasn't covered everything, and the foundation will have to sort out what it is going to do with the Eclipse Project for Stable Jakarta EE Specifications, which provides a home for a small handful of specifications which are not expected to change. Beaton's suggestion is to drop the “Eclipse Project for” from the name in favor of something such as “Jakarta EE Stable”. The Eclipse Mojarra and Eclipse Metro projects, which hold the APIs for some specifications, also need to be resolved.