I heard somewhere, that there are places with a superstition about calling bears by their "name", so they were called by their colour instead.Today I learned this:
A bear is sometimes called a "bruin" because the word "bruin" originates from the Middle Dutch word "bruun" which simply means "brown," essentially referring to the brown color of a brown bear; this term is most commonly associated with the bear character "Bruin" in the medieval fable "Reynard the Fox" where he is depicted as a brown bear.
I've been watching NHL hockey for about 100 years and I never knew this.