On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos filed the paperwork for a company called Cadabra, Inc. — as in abracadabra. His first lawyer, Todd Tarbert, pointed out the problem: over the phone, "Cadabra" kept being heard as "cadaver." The account comes from Brad Stone's history of the company, The Everything Store, as reported by CNBC. Within a few months the company had a new name, taken from the largest river in the world.
The name story is well known. The record behind it shows what Amazon actually did to own the word.
The Record
| Reg. No. | Mark | Filed / registered | Class | Owners on record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,078,496 | AMAZON | Oct. 23, 1995 / July 15, 1997 | 42 | Amazon.com, Inc. → Amazon Technologies, Inc. |
The registration was live and renewed at the end of September 2026. By then Amazon Technologies, Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. were the current owners of about 1,376 live U.S. registrations — a portfolio that also includes marks Amazon bought with other businesses. The WHOLE FOODS MARKET registration first issued in 1989, for example, now lists Amazon Technologies as its owner.
The Domain He Kept
Bezos also considered calling the company Relentless, and the domain from that era still works for Amazon: on October 18, 2026, www.relentless.com redirected to amazon.com when we checked. Holding on to a domain you once considered is cheap insurance against someone else building a brand — or a parody — on it.
The Problem With a Place Name: .amazon
A river name was a branding gift in 1994. Decades later it became a dispute. When Amazon applied to ICANN for the internet domain ending .amazon, the governments of countries in the Amazon basin objected that a geographic and cultural name shouldn't belong to one company. After years of process, ICANN's Board passed a resolution on May 15, 2019 directing ICANN to proceed with Amazon's applications, which came with Public Interest Commitments; ICANN later reported reviewing the public comments and moving the applications into contracting.
That fight wasn't about trademark registration in the USPTO sense — Amazon's U.S. registrations were long settled. It was about what a company can claim when its brand is also the name of a place that matters to millions of people.
What This Record Teaches
- Say the name out loud — on a bad phone line. "Cadabra" looked fine on paper. Mishearing is a real test for a brand that customers will repeat to each other.
- Choose before you build. The rename happened while the company was months old and had no customers. Changing a name after launch costs far more.
- Put the trademarks where they can be managed. The AMAZON registration moved from Amazon.com, Inc. to an IP-holding company, Amazon Technologies, Inc. — as did the marks of businesses Amazon acquired. Each transfer is recorded against the registration.
- A geographic name can come back to bite. Amazon's U.S. trademark was secure; its claim to the matching internet domain still took years and public commitments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Amazon really almost called Cadabra?
Yes. Bezos filed the paperwork for Cadabra, Inc. on July 5, 1994. According to Brad Stone's The Everything Store, as reported by CNBC, his lawyer Todd Tarbert warned that it was often heard as "cadaver," and the company was renamed a few months later.
When was the AMAZON trademark registered?
Amazon.com, Inc. filed for AMAZON on October 23, 1995, and it was registered on July 15, 1997 as U.S. Registration No. 2,078,496. It is now owned by Amazon Technologies, Inc.
Does relentless.com still go to Amazon?
Yes — when we checked on October 18, 2026, www.relentless.com redirected to amazon.com.