Amazon was originally called Cadabra when Jeff Bezos founded the company in 1994.
Bezos chose the name as he prepared to launch an online bookstore. The name was soon changed after a lawyer misheard “Cadabra” as “cadaver,” making the original name seem unsuitable for a business. Bezos then selected Amazon, evoking the scale of the Amazon River and suggesting a very large selection.
Amazon began operating online in 1995, selling books before expanding into music, electronics, household goods, cloud computing, advertising, streaming, and logistics. That diversification helped turn it into one of the world’s largest companies by market value.
Relentless was another name associated with Amazon’s early history: the domain Relentless.com still redirects to Amazon. However, Cadabra was the company name Bezos initially registered and used before the better-known name was adopted.