Owen Brown is named for a postmaster and store owner.  Mr.Owen Brown operated a store on what is now the intersection of Route 108 and Manor Lane. The name was initially just a working title for the development, but the name stuck, according to a book by Missy Burke, Robin Emrich and Barbara Kellner, called "Oh, you must live Columbia! The origins of place names in Columbia, Maryland". The first residents moved to Owen Brown in 1973. Owen Brown became Columbia's fifth village in 1975.