Cambrian is the name given to a period of time in Earth's history (i.e., Cambrian Period), which spanned 570–510 million years ago. The proper name Cambrian is also given to all the rocks that formed during that time (i.e., Cambrian System). In other words, the Cambrian System is the rock record of events that occurred—and organisms that lived—during an interval of geological time called Cambrian Period. Cambrian is the initial period of the Paleozoic Era.

Cambrian is a name derived from the Roman name for Wales, which was Cambria. Wales was the original study location for sedimentary rock formed during this interval of Earth history. The term Cambrian was first used in 1835 by Professor Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) of Cambridge University, who was studying the lower part of what was then called Transition strata (the oldest known sedimentary rocks) in Wales. Sedgwick was working in...