Question: I understand in Junit 4, @Before can be used to setup test fixtures for the test class's multiple test methods.

However, in my system, there are common test objects i would like to have available for all tests. 

What is the most appropriate name for these objects and what is a good best practice way to store them?

Answer: 
There is definitely a use case for having some shared data between test cases. JUnit provides the @BeforeClass annotation for this. Should help you I hope...

<http://junit.sourceforge.net/javadoc/org/junit/BeforeClass.html>
Why not have an abstract BaseTest superclass that holds the common objects and initializes them, either in the constructor or a @BeforeClass method?