Amazon's original name was Cadabra, Inc. Jeff Bezos incorporated the company on July 5, 1994, while building an online bookstore in Bellevue, Washington.
The name changed to Amazon after a few months, in November 1994. Bezos reportedly disliked that a lawyer had misheard “Cadabra” as “cadaver,” so he looked for a clearer, more distinctive name. He chose Amazon, referring to the enormous Amazon River and reflecting his ambition to build the world's largest bookstore. Beginning with A also helped the name appear early in alphabetized listings.
Amazon's public website launched in July 1995, initially selling books sourced from wholesalers and publishers. The company later expanded into music, video, electronics, cloud computing, streaming, devices, and many other businesses. “Abracadabra” is a common guess because it resembles Cadabra, while Zappos is an Amazon subsidiary acquired much later. Bezos also retained the domain relentless.com, which redirects to Amazon.