Amazon, one of the world's largest companies by market capitalization, was founded in 1994 under the original name Cadabra.
Jeff Bezos initially incorporated the online bookstore as Cadabra, a shortened form of “abracadabra.” The name was changed after a lawyer reportedly misheard it as “cadaver.” Bezos then selected Amazon, referencing the vast South American river and suggesting scale.
Amazon began operating from Bellevue, Washington, in 1995 as an online bookseller. Its catalog expanded into many other product categories, and the company later built major businesses in cloud computing, advertising, streaming, logistics, and consumer devices.
Relentless was another name Bezos registered and briefly considered, which makes it a plausible distractor. Amazon’s early identity as a bookstore remains important, but its current business mix is far broader than retail books.