I wouldn't call it a tribute, as much a misplaced bit of enthusiasm. The mohawk hairstyle was well-known in popular culture due to depictions in American "Westerns" such as John Ford's 1939 movie Drums Along the Mohawk, starring Henry Fonda. Westerns were very popular with American males of WWII age group, many of which would have been young teens at the time of influential American Westerns such as John Wayne's The Stagecoach. It will not surprise you that all of these depictions of Native American hair and dress were inaccurate. See: Celluloid Indians: Native Americans in Film by Neva Jacquelyn Kilpatrick

The Mohawk people specifically, are a branch of the Iroquois nation, who were known to wear the mohawk hairstyle during specific times of battle, as were other Iroquois. The Omaha, however, speak a language in the Dhegihan branch of the Sioux language tree (thus related to the Sioux nation), and were forced out of Iroquois land in the 1600s, likely due to the "mourning wars" inflicted by Iroquois at that time toward other nearby tribes. The Iroquois were also firm allies of the British, and this was obviously not a very popular stance with other Native American peoples. See: Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars by Jerry Keenan.

Was Omaha named after the Native American people?

I know Gayle Eyler’s claim that it was named after him (he hailed from Omaha), is unverified and likely unverifiable. But do we have any competing claims that it was named directly for the Omaha people?