# Question about eye color. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764 "2008-06-13T03:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nyx\_86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/2acd7d/32.png) [@nyx\_86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nyx_86)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/1 "2008-06-13T03:22:43Z")
Is there others like me or am I just a freak? My eyes for the most part are different shades of blue. However, my eyes change color according to my mood, what color I am wearing, and the lighting. My eyes usually stay in the blue and green range, but sometimes appear a grey color. In pictures we had taken professionally of me, my eyes appear blue in some, green in some, hazel in some and even brown in a couple. People have looked at the pictures and asked, “what color are your eyes Nik?” My sister in law said that I have what is called “chameleon eyes”?? Am I alone in this? I kind of like it, but it’s kind of weird too… ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/2 "2008-06-13T03:29:54Z")
You’re not the only one. I’ve got grayish blue eyes, and their color can vary greatly depending on what I’m wearing/how I’m feeling. I think it’s not uncommon for folks in certain areas of the gray-blue-green eye range. Edit to add: My sister’s got hazel eyes that can look anything from golden-tan to very bright green. It’s a neat trick. ---
**Author:** ![nyx\_86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/2acd7d/32.png) [@nyx\_86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nyx_86)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/3 "2008-06-13T03:35:59Z")
[QUOTE=Orual] You’re not the only one. I’ve got grayish blue eyes, and their color can vary greatly depending on what I’m wearing/how I’m feeling. I think it’s not uncommon for folks in certain areas of the gray-blue-green eye range. Edit to add: My sister’s got hazel eyes that can look anything from golden-tan to very bright green. It’s a neat trick. [/QUOTE] That’s really cool. My fave is when my eyes turn this icy crystal blue color. People have told me my eyes look luminesent when they do that. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/4 "2008-06-13T03:36:52Z")
My son’s eyes are the same way. I think it is in part related to how many/how deep the folds are in the tissue of the iris – with a “crinkly” iris it is very easy for them to catch the light in different ways. The author Martha Grimes has her character Emma Graham (I think it is in the book Cold Flat Junction) say that she’s been told she has “shrug-colored eyes” because when asked what color her eyes are, no one can answer, they just shrug. I love that description. ---
**Author:** ![nyx\_86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/2acd7d/32.png) [@nyx\_86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nyx_86)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/5 "2008-06-13T03:38:52Z")
[QUOTE=CairoCarol] My son’s eyes are the same way. I think it is in part related to how many/how deep the folds are in the tissue of the iris – with a “crinkly” iris it is very easy for them to catch the light in different ways. The author Martha Grimes has her character Emma Graham (I think it is in the book Cold Flat Junction) say that she’s been told she has “shrug-colored eyes” because when asked what color her eyes are, no one can answer, they just shrug. I love that description. [/QUOTE] lol that is a good description ---
**Author:** ![SomeUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@SomeUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeUserName)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/6 "2008-06-13T10:03:09Z")
[QUOTE=nyx\_86] That’s really cool. My fave is when my eyes turn this icy crystal blue color. People have told me my eyes look luminesent when they do that. [/QUOTE] My daughters eyes are like that. Hers can range from a plain ole blue to deep blue to crystal ice in the right light and depending what color she is wearing. It is one of her most outstanding features. She got them from her father. She also got his ears but that is for another thread..lol ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/7 "2008-06-13T11:01:01Z")
Hi cousin! My youngest brother, my Dad and two of Dad’s brothers have eyes like those. So do a bunch of my cousins, but I haven’t bothered count them. One day Lilbro got home laughing so hard he couldn’t tell us what it was about. He just kept breaking into giggles. Anybody who’s ever met a 17yo boy will know that 17yo boys most absolutely Do Not Giggle, as it is beneath them. Well, he just couldn’t help it. Turns out that two of his oldest and closest friends had gone up to him during recess and, after some hewing and humming, asked him what color his eyes were, as one of them had been saying grey and the other blue. Well, they’re grey… or grey with hints of blue… or a darkish blue… or radiant blue… or, if he’s excited (in any sense of the word, so basically it’s the adrenaline), an amazing green. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/8 "2008-06-13T11:49:53Z")
Others in the club! People have asked me, in all sincerity, what color my eyes are (while staring at them). Since I don’t actually know myself… There is the tempation to say that they’re yellow, and I wear colored contacts so I don’t stand out too much. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/9 "2008-06-13T13:37:18Z")
Me too. Grey to blue to green to indigo. Makes renewing my driver’s license a hassle. Eye color: …?? ---
**Author:** ![Pithy\_Moniker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Pithy\_Moniker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pithy_Moniker)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/10 "2008-06-13T14:18:48Z")
Mine are similar. They range from looking dark to very lightly colored depending on lighting. In actuality, they have a brown ring around the pupil surrounded by green. I think it’s called hazel but I really don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/11 "2008-06-13T15:00:05Z")
[QUOTE=Pithy Moniker] Mine are similar. They range from looking dark to very lightly colored depending on lighting. In actuality, they have a brown ring around the pupil surrounded by green. I think it’s called hazel but I really don’t know. [/QUOTE] Yes, that’s considered to be [hazel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_%28color%29#Hazel). I also have eyes that shift color. My “base” is a narrow light brown ring surrounded by green, with some rays of the brown shooting out through the green. But they can appear green, brown, gold, or any combination of the former, depending on lighting, mood, and the clothes I’m wearing. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/12 "2008-06-13T20:16:50Z")
[QUOTE=freekalette] Makes renewing my driver’s license a hassle. Eye color: …?? [/QUOTE] Same here! I say gray for that since it seems neutral. But they’re really grayish/greenish/bluish. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/13 "2008-06-13T20:27:56Z")
Me too! My eyes used to shift between bright green and medium brown, but generally were olive green. They now shift between green and blue, and occasionally grey. I’m not sure what caused the change. I think they’re basically hazel (brown ring around greenish middle). Or maybe the other way around, I don’t have a mirror handy. It’s weird, but I like it. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/14 "2008-06-13T21:28:44Z")
My eyes do the same thing, from blue to green to gray. When I cry, they turn a really cool shade of green. I call it chameleon, though I like “shrug”. When I got my first driver’s license, the guy asked me my eye color. I hesitated, and, without looking up, he just wrote “hazel.” When I got my second license, my hair was in a transition between blonde and brown (was born blonde, but, like my mom, my hair turned brown in my early twenties), so there were two questions I didn’t know how to answer. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/15 "2008-06-13T21:46:27Z")
I have blue/green/gray eyes. My father had cornflower blue eyes and some of my sibs have that. My mother has green eyes; some have those. I got the mix. I notice they’re deep blue around the edges and greenish gray in the center. I’m not sure they really change color, but if I wear a green shirt, they look green etc. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/16 "2008-06-14T00:28:24Z")
mine are battleship grey/blue (depends on the navy) in pictures. so i go with grey when asked. in person they are greyish blue, or blueish grey. mum was hazel, dad was crystal blue. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/17 "2008-06-14T02:23:11Z")
I call mine “faded navy”. Back when I could tan (I now have vitiligo), my eyes turned an ice blue in contrast to my biscuit colored skin. At times they can look gray, at others, they can look deep blue. Never green, though. My husband has “no color” eyes which we call hazel. They truly are no real color–kind of blue, kind of gray, kind of green, but with brown… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/18 "2008-06-14T02:52:34Z")
If I were to change my screen name, my new one would be “According to Wikipedia…” > **[Eye color](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_color)** > > Eye color is a polygenic phenotypic trait determined by two factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris.: 9  > In humans, the pigmentation of the iris varies from light brown to black, depending on the concentration of melanin in the iris pigment epithelium (located on the back of the iris), the melanin content within the iris stroma (located at the front of the iris), and the cellular density... There are eight basic eye colors… 2.1 Amber 2.2 Blue 2.3 Brown 2.4 Gray 2.5 Green 2.6 Hazel 2.7 Red 2.8 Violet One of mine: looking green tonight. [![](https://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/rhythmace/IMG_0004.jpg) ](https://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/rhythmace/IMG_0004.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/19 "2008-06-14T06:29:12Z")
My eyes also go through apparent changes in eye color, due to clothing color, eye makeup, distance from the observer (including slowly pulling away from a mirror while maintaining eye contact with my reflection), lighting, and how white the whites of my eyes actually are- redness due to crying or exposure to irritants, I mean. My state ID card calls them blue, but other authorities have called them green. According to a color-blind friend, my eyes are an “interesting color” when compared to other people’s eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764/20 "2008-06-14T06:56:22Z")
Cecil had some [comments about this](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a971205.html) that might be interesting to some. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-eye-color/452764.md?page=2)