Why Is Amazon Called Amazon?

The biggest store on Earth almost had one of the worst names in business history. If you have ever wondered why Amazon is called Amazon, the answer runs through a misheard phone call, a dictionary, and a very deliberate bet on the letter A.

It started as “Cadabra”

When Jeff Bezos incorporated the company in 1994, he called it Cadabra — as in abracadabra, magic. It lasted about as long as one phone call. His lawyer heard the name aloud and repeated it back as “cadaver.” A company named after a corpse is not the vibe for a new business, so Cadabra was quietly killed off.

So why is Amazon called Amazon?

Bezos wanted two things from the next name. First, it had to start with an A — early web directories and lists were sorted alphabetically, and he wanted to appear near the top. Second, it had to feel big. He opened a dictionary, started reading, and stopped at Amazon: the largest river in the world, by far. For a store that planned to sell “Earth’s biggest selection,” a name that meant “biggest” was perfect.

That river is baked into the brand. The arrow in the logo runs from A to Z — you can get anything — and curves up into a smile.

The name he almost used instead

Bezos also registered a backup: Relentless.com. He liked it enough to keep it, and to this day relentless.com still redirects straight to Amazon. He grabbed a few others too, including MakeItSo.com. Imagine adding “Relentless” to your cart instead.

Why the first letter mattered so much

The “start with an A” decision looks quaint now, but in 1994 it was sharp. There was no Google. People found websites through directories like Yahoo and long lists that were almost always sorted alphabetically, so a name near the front got seen and clicked first — free visibility, just for a letter. Naming your company AAA-something was a genuine strategy back then; it’s why so many old locksmiths and taxi firms did it in the phone book.

Bezos got the alphabetical edge and a word that meant “enormous” in a single move. It’s a reminder that the best names pull double duty — easy to find and saying something. That’s the whole difference between a name you have to explain and one that explains itself.

There’s a real lesson tucked in here. A good name is a one-word pitch — it tells people what you’re building before they read a single sentence. We help South Florida businesses build custom business apps where the name, the design, and the software all say the same clear thing. Got an idea that needs building?

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