The name was chosen as a tribute to Galileo Galilei, who discovered the first four natural satellites of Jupiter, and later discovered that they could be used as a universal clock to obtain the longitude of a point on the Earth's surface.
Názov bol vybratý aj ako pocta Galileimu, ktorý objavil prvé štyri prirodzené satelity Jupitera a neskôr ich použil ako univerzálne hodiny pre určenie zemepisnej dĺžky na zemskom povrchu.