Zitat von http://mynintendonews.com/2012/11/04/miyamoto-talks-about-the-origin-of-link/
Link sprite was designed by Takashi Tezuka. Like Mario, they wanted a character that would be recognisable from his sword and shield so they thought of a long hat and long ears and went into the direction of an elf. At the time, when you said long ears you thought of Peter Pan and as he’s a Disney fan, they drew inspiration from it.
Link’s name comes from the fact that originally, the fragments of the Triforce were supposed to be electronic chips. The game was to be set in both the past and the future and as the main character would travel between both and be the link between them, they called him Link.