I am a beginner in coding, and I am trying to create a simple program that when a reader types in their name, the program shows how much money they owe. I was thinking of using a Scanner, next(String), and int.

import java.util.Scanner;

public class moneyLender {
  //This program will ask for reader input of their name and then will output how much
  //they owe me. (The amount they owe is already in the database)

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    int John = 5; // John owes me 5 dollars
    int Kyle = 7; // Kyle owes me 7 dollars

    //Asking for reader input of their name
    Scanner reader = new Scanner(System.in);
    System.out.print("Please enter in your first name:");
    String name = reader.next();

    //my goal is to have the same effect as System.out.println("You owe me " + John);
    System.out.println("You owe me: " + name) // but not John as a string but John
                                              // as the integer 5

    //Basically, i want to use a string to call an integer variable with
    //the same value as the string. 

  }

}

As a beginner, You might be want to use a simple HashMap, which will store these mappings as key, value pair. Key will be name and value will be money. Here is example:

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Scanner;

public class moneyLender {
  public static void main(String[] args) {

    Map<String, Integer> map = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
    map.put("John", 5);
    map.put("Kyle", 7);

    Scanner reader = new Scanner(System.in);
    System.out.print("Please enter in your first name:");
    String name = reader.next();

    System.out.println("You owe me: " + map.get(name)); //
  }
}

Output :
Please enter in your first name:John
You owe me: 5