The Eye Color Chart

When it comes to color, there are so many possibilities and nuances that it is hard to classify certain eye colors. If you randomly ask people what eye color they have, not everyone will be able to give you a straight answer.

Why Are There So Many Eye Colors?

Scientists are having a tough time figuring out the exact set of genes responsible for a person’s eye color. This is not only because genetics is a difficult subject but also because there are many genes that code for a person’s eye color. In addition, these genes are believed to interact with each other in a complex way. Genetic variation has allowed us to exhibit a variety of eye colors from the darkest shades of brown to the lightest tints of violet and blue. The probability for a person to get a specific eye color depends very much on the set of genes inherited from both parents. This does not mean that a child will always have the same eye color as one or both parents. In fact, there is a fair chance that you are the only one in your family with your eye color. 

The Number of Possible Colors and Shades are Endless

There are no clear boundaries on the true spectrum of possible eye colors. This makes it difficult to see where a blue shade become gray, where green approaches hazel or where brown turns to amber. Therefore, if one does not know one’s exact eye color then one can only approximate by choosing a known color that best matches one’s eyes.This eye color chart shows only a selection of common eye colors. There is still an endless number of possible shades between two adjacent colors on the chart. Therefore this is for exploratory purposes only.Due to the endless number of possible shades of each eye color, it is impossible produce a complete list with each and every individual eye color and shade. So we have found a collection big enough to accommodate most eye colors but small enough to be useful. It would be great if you have a perfect match on the chart below, otherwise, you may want to settle for the closest match you can find.

The Human Eye Color Chart

Even though we see lots of eye colors and shades, there are only a couple of pigments in the eye—as far as scientists know at this point. The most important pigment responsible for the colors and shades is a brown pigment called melanin. The more melanin you have, the darker your eyes are. Brown eyes are loaded with melanin. Dark brown or black eyes—if you prefer, have even more melanin than brown eyes. Albinos on the other hand have very little to no melanin.The melanin concentration in the human eye color chart above generally increases as you move from left to the right and from top to bottom. 

Mother Natures Does a Great Job Spicing Things Up

There was a time, a long time ago, when everybody on earth had brown eyes. The first ever blue-eyed human only showed up around 10000 years ago, thanks to mutation—according to Professor Hans Eiberg (University of Copenhagen). Ten thousand years is not a very long time given the fact that modern humans have only been around for 200000 years. In other words, we’ve been a brown-eyed species for over 95% of our existence here on planet earth. Hence, all the non-brown eye colors are relatively new to humans, they only showed up recently. You may wonder why most Caucasian babies are born with blue eyes. This is because they have a low melanin concentration at birth, and the production of melanin fully kicks in several months later. Their eye color will gradually change from the baby blue to a darker shade. For those who will keep the blue eyes, their cells are programmed to make only small amounts of melanin.