In his new book, Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire, Brad Stone revealed some of the other names that were considered for Amazon’s smart assistant. According to Stone, the team knew that they needed a wake word/name that was three syllables, had a “distinct combination of phonemes” so that it wouldn’t easily be mistaken for other words and was easily marketable.
They reportedly came up with a list of names that were printed on index cards and laid out on a conference table for then-CEO Jeff Bezos to examine. Some that he added himself included Samantha, the main character from the show Bewitched; Finch, a fantasy novel by Jeff VanderMeer; Friday, the personal assistant in Robinson Crusoe; and Amazon, because, well, Amazon.