From JsonArray to List using _only_ the Java portable API.

JsonTest.java

import org.testng.Assert;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.JsonArray;
import javax.json.JsonObject;
import javax.json.JsonReader;
import java.io.StringReader;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

public class JsonTest {

    static String dataStr =
            "[{\"name\":\"name1\"}," +
            "{\"name\":\"name2\"}," +
            "{\"name\":\"name3\"}," +
            "{\"name\":\"name4\"}," +
            "{\"name\":\"name5\"}," +
            "{\"name\":\"name6\"}," +
            "{\"name\":\"name7\"}]";

    @Test
    public void jsonArrayToListTest() {
        try (JsonReader reader = Json.createReader(new StringReader(dataStr))) {
            JsonArray arr = reader.readArray();

            List<String> l = arr.getValuesAs(JsonObject.class)
                    .stream().map(o -> o.getString("name")).collect(Collectors.toList());

            Assert.assertEquals(Arrays.asList("name1", "name2", "name3", "name4", "name5", "name6", "name7"), l);
        }
    }

}