To retrieve the names of the three employees with the lowest salaries, the correct SQL syntax and logic are crucial:

Option B:

SELECT last_name, salary FROM employees ORDER BY salary FETCH FIRST 3 ROWS ONLY;

This query correctly sorts employees by their salary in ascending order and fetches the first three rows only. The FETCH FIRST n ROWS ONLY syntax is a standard way to limit the result set in SQL.

Options A, C, D, and E do not correctly implement the logic for fetching the lowest three salaries due to misuse of ROWNUM or incorrect placement of ORDER BY and FETCH clauses.