Although “the Browns” was the official nickname of the franchise beginning in 1902, a few other names popped up, even one that appeared to be official.

According to Baseball Team Names: A Worldwide Dictionary, 1869-2011, “In the era 1890-1910, some teams received bird nicknames based on their stocking color, i.e. Blackbirds, Bluebirds, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Crows, Doves, Ravens and Redbirds.” In 1905 and 1906, according to this book, the Browns were actually officially called the Ravens.

Through 1909 some newspapers took to referring to the team as the Macaleerites, after the team’s inaugural manager, Jimmy McAleer.

In 1928 the Sporting News Guide referred to the Browns as Howley’s Sensations. Dan Howley was the manager of the 1928 team and indeed he seemed to have started the Browns on something of an uptick after the short and futile managerial reign of player-manager George Sisler.

In 1939, the year the Browns set a franchise record for lowest winning percentage which still stands, they were apparently referred to as the Little Brownies.

In 1944 the Browns only pennant spurred an explosion of journalistic creativity: Cinderella Boys, Cinderella Brownies, Rags-to-Riches Boys, Sackcloth Brownies, and Sewell’s Wonders. And add to the listSewellmen which I personally have seen in the 1944 Sporting News.

All in all, the “St. Louis Americans” suffered through much less nickname identity crisis than did other franchises of the time (see Brooklyn, Cleveland, Boston N.L., Philadelphia N.L. e.g.).