The story of the Amazon.com domain
How Jeff Bezos chose Amazon.com: the Cadabra name that sounded like "cadaver", Relentless.com and other candidates, why Amazon, and the seven-year fight for .amazon.
Before it was the "everything store", Amazon was a garage startup with a name that sounded like a corpse. The story of how Jeff Bezos landed on Amazon.com is one of the best lessons in domain naming ever.
Cadabra: the name that almost was
Bezos founded the company in July 1994 as Cadabra, as in "abracadabra". It didn't last. According to Brad Stone's book The Everything Store, a lawyer misheard the name over the phone as "cadaver". A name that sounds like a dead body when spoken out loud fails the radio test badly.
Relentless.com and the other candidates
Bezos and his then-wife, MacKenzie (now MacKenzie Scott), registered several possible names, including Awake.com, Browse.com and Relentless.com. Other ideas floated included MakeItSo.com, a Star Trek reference. Amazon still owns Relentless.com, and typing it into your browser still takes you to Amazon, a famous piece of internet trivia.
Why "Amazon"?
- Size: Bezos found the word in the dictionary and loved that the Amazon is the world's largest river by far. He wanted the world's biggest store.
- Starts with A: many early web directories listed sites alphabetically, so an "A" name appeared near the top.
- Easy to say and spell: it passes the radio test instantly.
- Not tied to books: it left room to sell everything, which it eventually did.
Amazon.com was registered in late 1994 and the store opened to the public in July 1995, selling books.
The fight for .amazon
In 2012, Amazon applied to ICANN for its own ending, .amazon. Governments of countries the Amazon River flows through, led by Brazil and Peru, objected that the name belonged to the region. After about seven years, ICANN's board approved Amazon's application in May 2019. See .brand TLDs.
Lessons for anyone choosing a domain
- Say it out loud. Cadabra died because of how it sounded on a phone call.
- Think big. Don't box yourself into today's product.
- Register the runners-up if they're cheap and you might want them, like Relentless.com.
- Short, real words win. They're easy to remember and grow with you.
See how other giants chose their names in how famous companies got their domains.
Sources
- Mental Floss: Why Relentless.com redirects to Amazon
- The Register: Bezos finally gets .amazon (2019)
Questions
What was Amazon's original name?
Cadabra. Jeff Bezos changed it partly because it sounded like 'cadaver' over the phone.
Does Relentless.com go to Amazon?
Yes. Bezos registered it as a candidate name, and it still redirects to Amazon.