At the time, website listings were alphabetized, so he wanted a word that started with "A." When he landed on the word "Amazon," the name of the largest river on the planet, he decided that was the perfect name for what would become earth's largest bookstore.

What does the name Amazon stand for?

Jeff Bezos originally wanted to give the company the magical sounding name "Cadabra." ... He finally chose "Amazon" because he liked that the company would be named after the largest river in the world, hence the company's original logo.

Why Amazon is named so?

Choosing a name

Bezos selected the name by looking through a dictionary; he settled on "Amazon" because it was a place that was "exotic and different", just as he had envisioned for his Internet enterprise.