The title of GOLDENEYE has a somewhat long story that begins decades before 1995. Back in 1941, it had nothing to do with James Bond: that year, New York-born author Carson McCullers published her book REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE (adapted for the big screen in 1967, with Marlon Brando). The story dealt with the attraction of a US Private for the wife of his Captain, also showcasing a gayish feeling for the man himself. 

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​Around that decade, avid reader and Royal Navy Commander Ian Lancaster Fleming borrowed the name of this novel for an intelligence operation against the Nazis he planned, which he codenamed "Operation Goldeneye". After the war, Fleming opted to live in Jamaica and also named "Goldeneye" to the estate he had built in the city of Ocarabessa. There he began to write, in the early 1950s, the first James Bond novel titled CASINO ROYALE, which was published in 1953. This book was followed by another 13 titles, one novel published per year, narrating the adventures of this British secret agent. Bond became more famous when John F. Kennedy publically admitted he enjoyed these novels and turned into a worldwide phenomenon after Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman produced the first film adaptation of these stories, beginning with DR. NO in 1962, with Sean Connery in the leading role.

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In 1989, GOLDENEYE was used as the title for a TV biopic inspired on the life of James Bond's creator, starring Charles Dance in the role of Ian Fleming. As the Bond producers ran out of Ian Fleming titles for their films, they tried to take whatever inspiration from Fleming was left. The name of Fleming's Jamaican retreat was used as the title for the much-awaited 17th James Bond adventure, the first of four films with Pierce Brosnan in the role of James Bond.