The Cleveland Browns are called the Browns because the team is named after their first head coach and co-founder, Paul Brown, who was already a hugely respected football figure in Ohio when the franchise was created in the 1940s.
Origin of the name
When the Cleveland franchise was formed in the mid-1940s for the new All- America Football Conference, owner Arthur “Mickey” McBride hired Paul Brown to run the team, and a fan contest was held to pick a name. The most popular fan suggestion was “Cleveland Panthers,” but Brown rejected it because it had been used by a failed earlier team, and the team ultimately adopted “Browns” in reference to Paul Brown instead.
Later explanations and myths
For years, an alternate story circulated that the name honored heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, nicknamed the “Brown Bomber,” but Louis had no real connection to Cleveland. Paul Brown later acknowledged that this boxer story was mostly a way to deflect attention from the fact that the team was, in fact, named after him, and today both the team and the league officially state that the Browns are named for Paul Brown.