The franchise takes its name from an earlier
Cincinnati Bengals team, which played from 1937–1941. It also was a nod to Paul Brown's Massillon, Ohio, roots where he coached the high school team known as the Tigers.
In
1967 an ownership group led by Paul Brown was granted a franchise in the
American Football League. Brown named the team the Bengals in order "to give it a link with past professional football in Cincinnati."
[9] Another Bengals team had existed in the city and played in three previous American Football Leagues
[10] from
1937 to
1942. The city's world-renowned
zoo was also home to a rare white
Bengal Tiger. However, possibly as an insult to
Art Modell, or possibly as a homage to his own start as a head coach to the
Massillon Tigers, Brown chose the exact shade of orange used by his former team. He added black as the secondary color. Brown chose a very simple logo: the word "BENGALS" in black lettering. One of the potential helmet designs Brown rejected was a striped motif that was similar to the helmets adopted by the team in
1981 and which is still in use to this day; however, that design featured yellow stripes on a turquoise helmet which were more uniform in width.