Allow me, as an official “redskin” to chime in!
It has been my observation through the years that people name their teams after things that they ADMIRE. Things that represent strength, victory, winning, power, nobility, honor, integrity, or even, God Forbid, ferocity.
Names like, the Warriors, the Chiefs, the Nobles, the Indians, the Seminoles, the Redskins, the Vikings, The Saints, The Heat, The Fighting Irish, The Buccaneers, The Sting Rays, Tigers, Lions, etc. Ethnicity does enter into it, but always as an admirable trait rather than a pejorative.
We do not name teams after things we despise, or consider weak.
If we did, we would have names such as:
The Baltimore Bedwetters
The Washington Wimps
The Boston Smelly Sox
The New York Nincompoops
The Toledo Thumbsuckers
The New Orleans Nutrias
The Dallas Dilly-Dalliers
The Los Angeles Lapdogs
The Memphis Molesters
The Orlando Orcs
The Chicago Snitchers
The Richmond Ratfinks
There aren’t even teams named after ethnic groups that are not “popular”, such as “The San Francisco Sunnis”, or the Chicago Shi’ites”, not to mention the “Harvard Untouchables” or the Detroit Dhimmis”.
So...the choice of any name for a team that honors the team also honors the name of the group for which it has been chosen.
The Washington Holders!