I don't know how you are determining each team's "popular name" from early baseball -- the Washington team was known as Americans (because they were in the AL), Nationals (because an earlier, defunct Washington team had been in the NL), and SeNATorS (allowing Nats to work as shorthand for both) but did not have an "official" name/logo (The Senators) until the 1950s. While they were managed by Clark Griffith (1912-1920), baseball writers would often refer to the team as the Griff's or the Griff-men in their newspaper accounts of the games. I think this was probably done by writers in most cities, and quickly picked up by fans, with the Naps being the most famous example.
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