can i use getters and setters to already initialized variable?

Question

Can i use getters and setters to a already initialized variable (names)? it has been initialized in class level as the values are used in many method.

Class Family{
private String names[] = {"Arthur","Molly","Ginny","Fred", "George","Ron"};
// Is it ok to initialize this way since the names will be used in many methods.

private String surname;

public void displayOccupation(){
    for(int o=0; o<occupation.length; o++){
        System.out.println(names[o]+ "\t"+ occupation[o]+"\n");
    }
}
public void displayNames(){
            setSurname("Gates");
    for(int x=0; x<names.length; x++){
        System.out.println("\n"+rel[x]+"\t"+" =  "+names[x]+" "+surname); 
    }
}
public String getSurname(){
    return surname;
}
public void setSurname(String s){
    surname=s;
}
}

Or do i have to re initialize it in every method that access the private variable ?

Answer 1

with the help of setter methods private variable of can be initialized. there is no need to initialized it in every method.