Like many of us, the first letter Jeff Bezos learned was probably the letter A, the first letter of the English alphabet.
Early on, even as toddlers, we learned that A is for apple with cheeky smiles, celebration, and clapping. Our parents and older siblings constantly rehearsed and raved when we learned our letters.
Learning the first letter of the English alphabet was the start of a lifetime adventure of reading, writing, and other forms of communication. Pretty soon, the world opened like a flower and became ours to explore.
Many years later, as an aspiring entrepreneur, Jeff Bezos saw the letter A and its online accessibility as a strategic advantage. When he started his online bookstore, websites were listed alphabetically. Most search engines listed businesses beginning with the letter A first. Bezos felt he could be at the top of the totem pole if the name of his business began with the letter A.
Unfortunately, Steve Jobs had already taken the word Apple when he founded the Apple Computer Company in April of 1976. Jobs chose the first letter of the alphabet and the first word that umpteen people associate with it.
What genius was this?
Which name would Jeff Bezos choose?
I don’t know whether Jeff Bezos searched the internet for his business name, but Amazon wasn’t his first pick. Believe it or not, Cadabra, short for Abracadabra, was the first name Jeff Bezos chose for his business.
Unfortunately, Bezos found no spell or magical potential in the name.
Bezos followed his gut and kept looking for the right word to represent his business. In his mind’s eye, the word must stand for something vast in size, with almost limitless potential.
What vast thing begins with the letter A?
When I Googled things that are vast in size that begin with the letter A, the following nouns were among the search results.
Atmosphere
Asteroid Belt
Andromeda Galaxy
Atlantic Ocean
Antarctica
Amazon Rainforest
Eureka!
The word Amazon appeared!
The story goes that Bezos came across the word Amazon while flipping through a dictionary, and the rest is history.
The Amazon is a vast river in South America that is said to be 4,000-plus miles long, the longest river in the world.
And what about the Amazons?
The Amazons were of Greek origin, a myth of female warriors from Scythia, in the Black Sea area.
He knew about the mythology of strong women warriors who battled against male warriors. He knew about the Amazon River being the largest river in the world.
What about the Amazon Rainforest? The following is taken from Wikipedia about the Amazon:
“The Amazon represents over half of the total area of remaining rainforests on Earth and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical forest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees in about 16,000 species.”
To say that Jeff Bezos’s Amazon, which dominates the world’s global retail, has lived up to its name is an understatement.
I hope that you are happy and well.