Why are Cleveland called the browns?

Answer 1

The Cleveland Browns are named after Paul Brown. While Paul Brown was the first Head Coach of the team, he was not the first owner as many believe. The first owner was Arthur B "Mickey" McBride. Once he was given a franchise in the AAFC he hired Brown to be Head Coach, along with General Manager and Vice President.

Here's the whole story,

In 1945, Arthur McBride brought the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) team to Cleveland. He ran a newspaper contest to name the team and offered the winner a $1,000 war bond. Many entries suggested the name "Browns" after Head Coach Paul Brown, but Coach Brown felt it wasn't "proper" to name the team after himself. Instead, the winning suggestion was the Panthers. However, there was a semi-pro team called the Cleveland Panthers in the '20s, and the owner still had the rights to the name. So, Coach Brown reluctantly agreed to name the team the Browns.

Answer 2

The legend is that the team was named after head coach Paul Brown.