Let's examine how the Washington Redskins came to be. I wrote about this years ago, but I know reading articles is passe these days. http://www.footballperspective.com/the-origin-of-the-name-redskins/

In 1932, George Preston Marshall and his partners founded the newest NFL team. The 1932 NFL season had 3 teams in New York City and 4 teams in the midwest. The Providence Steam Roller (in Rhode Island) had just folded. So Boston was a good expansion choice for the 8th team.

The first question is where would they play. At the times, Boston had two MLB teams: the Braves and the Red Sox. The Braves played at Braves Field, the Red Sox at Fenway.

Because new NFL teams often folded, NFL owners went for any brand recognition they could get.

George Halas saw the success of the Cubs in Chicago, and named his team the Bears.

In New York, the Giants and Dodgers were popular, so the football teams were named the... Giants and Dodgers. When Detroit got a team - where the Tigers were popular - they became the Lions.

So in 1932, the new NFL expansion franchise would play in Boston where the Braves were popular, and they named themselves the... Boston Braves.

This was George Preston Marshall's team, in their first season.

There was a number of Native American imagery here. Braves Field (MLB) was nicknamed the Wigwam. The Braves logo -- well, here's Babe Ruth wearing the uniform.

The Braves owner was a member of NYC's political machine, Tammany Hall, which used an Indian chief as their symbol.

After 1 season, George Preston Marshall got into a lease fight with Braves Field. They hiked the rent! Rather than pay, he scrambled for a new place to play.

In 1933, the team would play at Fenway Park. But he would not, of course, give the Braves free marketing with the name.

So the team needed a name change, but one problem: they already had printed the logo and uniforms for the team in 1933, and there was no money in the NFL in these days of the great depression.

So what would they rename the team?

The team's head coach was known as a Native American: Lone Star Dietz. And they had the Native American imagery. And Boston signed some Native American players. And he had his Native American chief logo already printed.

And the team was playing in the Red Sox stadium....

Perhaps Indians were an option. Maybe Red Skins was designed to make Bostonians think of the Red Sox? A specific explanation wasn't given, because frankly the media didn't give much attention to a fledgling NFL franchise.

But that's how Redskins was born.

Then, in December 1936, the Boston Redskins decided to move to Washington. At the time, MLB's Senators played at Griffith Stadium, and the Redskins received an attractive lease option. So George Preston Marshall moved his Redskins to D.C. and played at Griffith Stadium in '37.

The Boston Braves (MLB) would fall on hard times. They would change ownership, became the Boston Bees, go back to being the Boston Braves, and then move to Milwaukee and then Atlanta ... all while keeping the Native American name Braves.