#1 Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals acquired their nickname in 1901 when its founder, Chris O’Brien, received a shipment of deteriorated jerseys from the University of Chicago Maroons football team that were cardinal red in color.

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#2 Atlanta Falcons

One of Smith’s first orders of business was to provide a nickname for the new team. The name “Falcons” was suggested by many, but a school teacher from Griffin, Ga. was declared the winner. “The Falcon is proud and dignified,” she wrote, “with great courage and fight.

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#3 Baltimore Ravens

As part of an agreement, Cleveland kept the Browns’ name, history, and colors for a future replacement team, so the newly renamed Ravens-the moniker stems from the famous poem by Baltimorean Edgar Allen Poe-were technically an expansion team.

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#4 Buffalo Bills

The Bills’ name derives from the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) franchise from Buffalo that was in turn named after Buffalo Bill. Drawing much of its fanbase from New York, the Bills are the only NFL team that plays home games in that state.

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#5 Carolina Panthers

Panthers team president Mark Richardson, son of team owner Jerry Richardson, chose the panthers nickname because “it’s a name our family thought signifies what we thought a team should be - - powerful, sleek and strong.”

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#6 Chicago Bears

As with several early NFL franchises, the Bears derived their nickname from their city’s baseball team some directly, some indirectly like the Bears, whose young are called “cubs”. Halas liked the bright orange-and-blue colors of his alma mater, the University of Illinois, and the Bears adopted those colors as their own, albeit in a darker shade of each the blue is a navy blue, and the orange is Pantone 1665, similar to burnt orange.

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#7 Cincinnati Bengals

Professional football returned to Cincinnati in 1967. Paul Brown, former coach of the Cleveland Browns, received authorization from a modern American Football League to create a team in Cincinnati. Brown chose the name Bengals to memorialize the teams of the same name that had represented Cincinnati in the past.

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#8 Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland All-American Football Conference franchise conducted a fan contest in 1945 to name the team. The most popular submission was “Browns” in recognition of the team's first coach and general manager Paul Brown, who was already a popular figure in Ohio sports.

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#9 Dallas Cowboys

On March 19, 1960, the organization announced that the team name was the Cowboys to avoid confusion with the American Association Dallas Rangers baseball team. The founding investors of the Dallas Cowboys were Clint Murchison, Jr. (45%), John D.

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#10 Denver Broncos

A “bronco” is an unbroken or untamed horse, and it is a reference to Denver’s Wild West heritage. The Broncos nickname came about being the winning entry of a name the new team contest that the new Denver AFL franchise had in early 1960. The winner out of only 162 entries was by Ward M. Vining.

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#11 Detroit Lions

The Lions name was chosen by George A. Richards, the Detroit radio executive who purchased the Portsmouth Spartans and moved the team to Detroit in 1934. “The lion is the monarch of the jungle,” a team spokesperson said, “and we hope to be the monarch of the league.”

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#12 Green Bay Packers

The team was named after the company, the “Packers” for advertising purposes. OTD in 1898 Hall of Famer and Packers legend Earl Curly Lambeau was born. He founded the Green Bay Packers in 1919 and was the team’s first playing star and its coach for 31 years.

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#13 Houston Texans

McNair explained that the name and logo were chosen to “embody the pride, strength, independence and achievement that make the people of Houston and our area special.” The name “Texans” had been used by several now-defunct football teams. Owner Bob McNair received permission from Chiefs’ owner Lamar Hunt to use the Texans name for his new team.

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#14 Indianapolis Colts

Like so many other teams, the Colts got their nickname from a “name-the-team” contest. The monicker “Colts” was chosen to pay homage to the rich tradition of horse breeding and racing in the area.

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#15 Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jacksonville Zoo owned the oldest living jaguar in North America and the nickname was chosen through a naming contest. Other options were Stingrays and Sharks.

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#16 Kansas City Chiefs

In 1962, having become mayor of Kansas City six years earlier, Bartle then convinced Lamar Hunt, the owner of the AFL franchise the Dallas Texans, to move the organization to his city - and when it came to choosing a nickname for Kansas City's new football team, he lobbied Hunt to go with 'Chiefs' in his honor.

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#17 Las Vegas Raiders (Oakland Raiders)

The Oakland Raiders were originally going to be called the “Oakland Señors” after a name-the-team contest had that name finish first, but after being the target of local jokes, the name was changed to the Raiders before the 1960 season began.

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#18 Los Angeles Chargers (San Diego Chargers)

According to the official website of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Barron Hilton agreed after his general manager, Frank Leahy, picked the Chargers name when he purchased an AFL franchise for Los Angeles: "I liked it because they were yelling 'charge' and sounding the bugle at Dodger Stadium and at USC games."

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#19 Los Angeles Rams (Saint Louis Rams)

Wetzel, who served as general manager, selected the “Rams”, because his favorite college football team was the Fordham Rams from Fordham University; Marshman, the principal owner, also liked the name choice.

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#20 Miami Dolphins

A fan contest drew 19,843 entries to name the AFL expansion team. A total of 622 contestants suggested “Dolphins.” Team owner Joe Robbie said he liked the name because, “The dolphin is one of the fastest and smartest creatures in the sea.”

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#21 Minnesota Vikings

Founded in 1960 as an expansion team, the team began playing the following year. They are named after the Vikings of ancient Scandinavia, reflecting the prominent Scandinavian American culture of Minnesota. The team plays its home games at U.S. Bank Stadium in the Downtown East section of Minneapolis.

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#22 New England Patriots

Originally located in Boston, the team was named the Patriots because of the area’s heritage as the birthplace of the American Revolution.

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#23 New Orleans Saints

The team was named "Saints" due to its birthday on the Roman Catholic Church's All Saints Day—a fitting nickname for a team in the largely Catholic New Orleans area. The name was announced on January 9, 1967. The team's original stadium was Tulane Stadium, which could seat more than 80,000 fans.

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#24 New York Giants

At the time, baseball was the king of professional sports so owner Tim Mara wanted the same name recognition in hopes that fans would support both clubs. By the way, the baseball Giants got their name from all the giant buildings that made up New York City.

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#25 New York Jets

Werblin renamed the team the New York Jets since the team would play near LaGuardia Airport and because it rhymed with the New York Mets as they would be playing in Shea Stadium. The new name was intended to reflect the modern approach of his team.

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#26 Philadelphia Eagles

In 1933, Bert Bell and Lud Wray purchased the bankrupt Frankford Yellowjackets. The new owners renamed the team the Eagles in honor of the symbol of the National Recovery Act, which was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.

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#27 Pittsburgh Steerlers

Struggling to find success, Rooney decided to rename the team and asked fans for suggestions. Of the many that he received, he decided to go with “Steelers” to honor the city's heritage and the steel mills where a large part of his fanbase was employed.

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#28 San Francisco 49ers

Sorrell suggested the team be named "49ers" after the voyagers who had rushed the West for gold. It is the only name the team has ever been affiliated with and San Francisco is the only city in which it has resided. The original team logo depicted San Francisco's wild beginnings.

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#29 Seattle Seahawks

The name Seattle Seahawks ("Seahawk" is another name for Osprey) was selected on June 17, 1975, after a public naming contest which drew more than 20,000 entries and over 1,700 names.

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#30 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A name-the-team contest resulted in the name “Buccaneers”, a reference to the pirates who frequented Florida's Gulf coast during the 17th century, and which was almost immediately shortened to the familiar “Bucs”. The team's first home was Tampa Stadium, which had recently been expanded to seat just over 72,000 fans.

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#31 Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers)

The Oilers played one season in Memphis and one in Nashville at Vanderbilt University's football stadium before their home stadium was completed prior to the 1999 season. The team was then rechristened the Tennessee Titans, a name derived from Nashville's sobriquet of “the Athens of the South.”

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#32 Washington Commanders (Washington Redskins and Washington Football Team)

Snyder also states that the name was chosen in 1933 to honor Native Americans in general and the coach and four players at that time who were Native American; and that in 1971 coach George Allen consulted with the Red Cloud Indian Fund on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation when designing the logo.

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