How Many NFL Teams Have Bird Names? Full List and Method

Five NFL teams have bird-based nicknames: the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, and Seattle Seahawks. That's five out of 32 franchises, which works out to just under 16% of the league flying the avian flag. The number hasn't changed with any recent expansion or rebrand, so as of 2026 you can count on that quintet being the complete, current list.

What actually counts as a bird name

Before you start second-guessing yourself at trivia night, it helps to set a simple rule: a team's nickname counts as a bird name if the primary word in that nickname refers to a real bird species or a well-established common name for one. Eagles, Ravens, Falcons, Cardinals, and Seahawks all pass that test cleanly. No detective work needed.

What gets left out? Anything where the bird connection is indirect, metaphorical, or nonexistent. Note that the same bird-name testing logic helps explain why some bird names are changing over time as teams rebrand or redefine what counts indirect, metaphorical, or nonexistent. The Minnesota Vikings is a historical warrior culture reference, not a bird. The New Orleans Saints is a religious title. Even a name like the Chicago Bears refers to a mammal, obviously, but I mention it because applying the rule consistently means asking the same blunt question every time: is the nickname literally a bird, or a word that means bird? If yes, count it. If no, move on.

The five bird-named NFL teams, broken down

A quick note on each: the Cardinals name predates the NFL itself, tracing back to faded crimson jerseys in the early 1900s that reminded someone of the bird's color. The Falcons nickname came from a public naming contest held in August 1965 when the franchise launched. The Ravens are probably the most linguistically interesting of the group since the name was explicitly chosen as a tribute to Poe's poem when the team moved to Baltimore in 1996, making it a literary bird reference as much as a natural history one. The Eagles are a fairly straightforward patriotic choice, leaning on the Bald Eagle as a national symbol. And the Seahawks? That one trips people up, which is why it gets its own section below.

How to verify the count yourself

If you want to confirm this number independently rather than just taking my word for it, the process is pretty simple. NFL Football Operations maintains a Team Histories page that lists all 32 franchises with their official nicknames. NFL.com has a dedicated team page for every franchise. Pro-Football-Reference also indexes all franchises by their official names. Pull any of those lists, go through all 32 teams, and apply the rule from the section above. You'll end up at five every time.

1. Go to NFL Football Operations' Team Histories page or NFL.com's teams directory.
2. Write out or copy all 32 official team nicknames (just the nickname, not the city).
3. Ask of each one: is this a real bird or a common name for one? Yes or no.
4. Count the yeses. You'll get Eagles, Falcons, Ravens, Cardinals, Seahawks — five total.
5. Cross-check against Pro-Football-Reference's franchise index if you want a third source.

The edge cases worth knowing about

Seahawks: real bird or made-up word?

This is the one that generates the most debate. "Seahawk" is not a formal taxonomic species name you'll find in a field guide, but it is a genuine and long-standing common name for the osprey. Scientific American and Wikipedia both confirm this usage. The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a real raptor found on every continent except Antarctica, and sailors and coastal communities have called it a seahawk for centuries. So yes, Seahawks counts. It's a common bird name, just not a formal one.

Cardinals: the color came first, the bird came second

The Arizona Cardinals didn't pick their name by thinking 'what bird do we want to be?' The team acquired faded red-jersey hand-me-downs early in its history, and a player reportedly compared the shade to a cardinal's plumage. The bird name stuck. So the path was: red jerseys, bird association, official nickname. That's a quirky origin but it still lands squarely in bird territory since the nickname directly references the Northern Cardinal.

Ravens: a poem, not just a bird

The Baltimore Ravens are the only NFL team whose bird name was chosen primarily for a literary reason rather than the bird itself. When the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996, the team ran a fan vote for a new name and Ravens won, largely because of Poe's connection to Baltimore. Poe is buried in the city, and 'The Raven' is his most famous poem. The Common Raven is absolutely a real bird, of course, but the naming ceremony leaned hard on the Poe angle. This makes Ravens a fascinating case from an etymological standpoint: a bird name chosen for cultural and literary resonance rather than the bird's physical qualities.

Why bird names show up in NFL branding at all

Sports teams have been borrowing bird names for a long time, and it's not random. That same mix of symbolism and branding practicality is also why people ask why golf uses bird names. Birds of prey in particular carry an obvious symbolic payload: speed, sharp vision, aerial dominance, and predatory instinct. Falcons and Eagles both tap into that directly. Ravens and Cardinals bring in different flavors of cultural meaning. Ravens have a long history in folklore as omens, tricksters, and symbols of intelligence across multiple cultures (Poe just made that resonance famous in American literature). Cardinals carry associations with passion and intensity, partly from their vivid color and partly from the ecclesiastical title the color references. Seahawks, via the osprey, evoke a hunter that dives from the sky and almost never misses its prey.

From a linguistics angle, bird names work well for team branding because they tend to be short, strong one or two syllable words that hold up in chants and on merchandise. 'Eagles,' 'Ravens,' 'Falcons,' 'Seahawks,' and 'Cardinals' all pass the crowd-chant test easily. Compare that to, say, a team named after a long-necked wading bird and you can see why herons haven't made the roster. (If you're curious about how bird names function in other sports contexts, the same question about MLB teams with bird names follows a parallel logic and turns up a slightly different count. If you’re wondering the same thing in baseball, you can look up how many MLB teams have bird names and compare it to the NFL total. )

A note on the full NFL picture

Five bird teams out of 32 means 27 NFL franchises use names drawn from mammals, mythological figures, geographic or cultural identities, weather phenomena, and other categories. The bear, the big cat, and the horse are all represented multiple times. Birds hold their own as a category but they don't dominate the way some people assume. If you're building a trivia question or a word puzzle around NFL bird names, five is your number and the five names above are your complete answer. If you're also looking for funny bird name ideas to match the playful vibe, you might enjoy the guide on the best bird names funny. If you also want the broader landscape, check resources on the best bird species names beyond these NFL examples. If you're looking for a broader list beyond the NFL, check out the top bird names to match the most popular choices. If you are also naming a new pup, check out the best bird dog names for ideas that match a natural hunting heritage.