Amazon was incorporated in 1995, but Jeff Bezos had been working on the name of the company for a while before that.
And initially, he called it “Cadabra” – a spin on “abracadabra”, a word magicians use when performing magic.
Abracadabra was a reflection of his ambition – he wanted to create a near-perfect world of consumer capitalism, i.e. a platform where there was so much lure (range of products, discounts, etc.) that consumers purchased products based on their desire rather than an actual need.
But his lawyer suggested that the reference to magic was not clear, and also that Cadabra on phone sounded like a cadaver, which means a dead body.
He also considered other names such as Awake, Aard, and Bookmall, etc. but never committed to any of them.
Relentless.com was another name on the list but Bezos decided against it when his friends told him it sounded a bit sinister.
In Oct 1994, he was going through the “A” section of the dictionary, when he came across Amazon.
He chose Amazon because it was, like “abracadabra”, aligned with his ambition.
“This is not only the largest river in the world, but it’s also many times larger than the next biggest river,” he is believed to have said.
Since he wanted to create the earth’s biggest bookstore, the name resonated with him.
In 1997, the Amazon logo had the slogan “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore” written under it.
By 2000, the company had expanded beyond books and started using the curvy arrow connecting letters А and Z (to mean they sell a vast range of products – A to Z).
Curvy arrow was chosen also because it gave the impression of a smile.
