Quite simply, no. There is no such thing as a pointer in java, like there is in C or C++.
You shouldn't actually need to use them; you should be able to structure your code and objects without them.

Suppose I want to manage a list of variables through their name. I try to explain better through pseudo-code...

@Stuffses: If I understand you correctly, to achieve this I would use reference types to wrap primative values and then use accessor and mutator methods to update the internal primative values.  An example based on your scenario is:

1. public class RefStr
   {
     String _s;
    
     public RefStr(String s)
     {
       _s = s;
     }
    
     public String getString()
     {
       return _s;
     }
    
     public void setString(String s)
     {
       _s = s;
     }
   } 

1. void setup()
   {
     RefStr bottom = new RefStr("apple");
     RefStr top = bottom;
     top.setString("pear");
     println(bottom.getString());
   }
   
   void draw()
   {
   }

@Marco: I think one way to manage this could be to use a hashtable or similar collection of key/value pairs rather than trying to reference the variable by name. Having the name as the key will make this a lot easier.

The problem obviously doesn't apply if I need to manage a set of objects. But suppose the variables to be managed are of different primitive types (int, float, char, long... )?

Use their respective Object types, Integer, Float, Character and Long (Double and Boleean also exist).

Or just use an array to store the information instead of this convoluted (and a bit artificial, I have yet to see a real use case) method.