Amazon probably seemed like a ridiculous name when they started out... why would you name an online bookstore after a South American river? But I think they've done okay.
Though this only really works if you're doing something orthogonal to the original word and build enough of a brand to make it stick.
And we all remember the reaction when Nintendo announced that the Revolution's official name was "Wii". I still think it sounds silly, but it's no longer weird.
According to Bezos' biography he was looking for a name that started with 'A' to rank high in the web portals of the time and also he liked the idea of being 'big'.
Though this only really works if you're doing something orthogonal to the original word and build enough of a brand to make it stick.