How do the NFL teams get their names?

Answer 1

There's no one single way that teams get named.

-- Some teams were named after people (the Browns, after founder Paul Brown).

-- Others took a cue from existing sports teams in the same city (Detroit Lions, after the Tigers; Chicago Bears, after the Cubs; the New York Giants, after the baseball team that's now in San Francisco; the Washington Redskins, who began as the Boston Braves, named after the baseball team that now plays in Atlanta).

-- Some just go for alliteration (Jacksonville Jaguars).

-- Some simply wanted fierce mascots (the Raiders).

-- Some were named after local businesses and professions (the Colts originated in horse-breeding country in Maryland; the Packers were originally sponsored by a meat-packing company).

-- Some were named for local celebrities (the Ravens, after Baltimore native Edgar Allan Poe and his famous poem "The Raven").

-- Some are named to invoke the spirit of a city or region (the Steelers for the area's steel industry, the Cowboys for Texas' cowboy frontier history, the 49ers to represent the 1849 gold rush to California, the Broncos to invoke the wild, open nature around Denver).