It is the world's largest online retailer and marketplace - but many Amazon customers are only just learning how it got its name. Founded by Jeff Bezos on July 5, 1994, Amazon started as a simple online bookstore with its 'headquarters' in his garage in Bellevue, Washington.
Today, the $1.32 trillion company sells everything from groceries, personal-care items, clothing, musical instruments, to garden items. But it's not only it's stock list that has changed over the years - but its identity as the company originally ran under the name Cadabra, Inc.
Bezos came up with Cadabra as a play on the magical word abracadabra - but ended up changing it a few months later when his lawyer misheard it as 'cadaver' - a word used to describe a dead human body that is intended to be dissected.
