Read the Story Behind the Seattle Seahawks Logo

While applying for an NFL team in 1974, the company that would become the franchise holders requested ideas for a name. More than 20,000 names were suggested, and "Seahawks" was chosen. The company hired a design firm to create the logo, and Northwest Native American art was studied as an inspiration.

Art books about Northwest aboriginal style were studied, including Bill Holm's, Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form and Robert Bruce's Art of the Northwest Coast Indians. 

A Northwest art expert believes a specific carving pictured in Robert Bruce's book was the inspiration for the logo. No one has ever confirmed this (or possibly can remember) but the likeness is unmistakable.

The expert says it is a Kwakwaka’wakw carving of an eagle. The tribe called Vancouver Island home.