# Why aren’t more color names used as surnames? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 26, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978 "2021-11-26T15:02:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/22 "2021-11-27T01:19:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > In Old English, Trask says, the color was pronounced with a long “e” sound, which “gave rise to the surname variously spelled Reade, Read or Reed.” > > These surnames stayed the same, but the color term “underwent a shortening of the vowel” and was pronounced and spelled “red.” (The same sound change happened with “bread,” “dead,” and “head,” but the spellings didn’t change.) The medieval Scottish poem “Sir Patrick Spens”, which is written in Scots, contains the line: _The king sat in Dunfermline toun drinking his blude reid wine,_ which shows the original spelling and pronounciation of the word in Scots. And also the origin of the 14th most common Scottish surname. _Glass_ is another disguised color name - in some contexts, it comes from the Irish/Scottish Gaelic _glas_, meaning “grey” or “green”. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/23 "2021-11-27T01:56:13Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > until Quintin Tarantino started the practice in the 1990s Why am I Mr. Pink? Why can’t we pick our own colors? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/24 "2021-11-27T01:59:59Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > But why don’t we read about the exploits of the Lavender family or the acting dynasty of the Ceruleans? Googling Cerulean as a last name led me to the My Heritage web site, which had this to say: “We found 44,710 records for Cerulean last name” Also there is a list of notable Oranges here: > **[Orange (name)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(name))** > > Orange is a surname and a given name. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/25 "2021-11-27T02:56:58Z")
“William of”? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/26 "2021-11-27T03:06:49Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > There was a company called [Thomas Pink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Pink) that made shirts, apparently called after an 18th-century tailor of that name. That may be derived from pinking, the method of creating a perforated pattern around a garment’s hem. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/27 "2021-11-27T03:11:08Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “As for ‘purple,’ this word was simply not in use in English as a color term when surnames were being invented,” Trask adds. “All of ‘purple,’ ‘’orange’ and ‘pink’ were late additions to our set of color terms.” So…what did people call stuff that was the color we now call “purple” to distinguish it from, say, blue? I know purple dye was rare and expensive, but there were purple flowers, like foxglove, and it seems like it would’ve been important to know not to eat the plant with purple blossoms… How did they refer to pink or orange flowers? Clearly, I have massive ignorance that needs to be fought. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/28 "2021-11-27T03:45:16Z")
They likely used blends like red-blue for purple, light red for pink, and red-yellow for orange. Words don’t enter the language until there is a need. How many times did people need to refer to those specific shades in England a thousand years ago? Where the word was needed, it was coined. Purple comes from the Greek _porphyra_. That might refer to the shellfish that the famed purple dye was made of. Porphyry, from the Greek _porphyrites_ or literally purple stone, was used for a mineral mined in Egypt. Orange came in via the fruit. Citrine or saffron might have been used earlier. Pink as a color is very late, not common till the 18th century. English has been growing in vocabulary for centuries. So the earlier you go, the smaller the choice of words. They managed. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/29 "2021-11-27T04:14:56Z")
Vida Blue? ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/30 "2021-11-27T07:21:41Z")
Jan Crouch ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/31 "2021-11-27T07:51:48Z")
Very interesting! I wandered away and did some research on my own before I saw your post. I find it interesting that the Latin word (which was borrowed from the Greek, just as you said) from which the word purple was derived was purpura. I’d heard of purpura before in medical contexts and never made the connection. D’oh! Before the word _pink_ appeared, people said _pale rose_.Until 200 years after the arrival of the fruit, the term for _orange_ was yellow-red. I do think the English had plenty of reasons to refer to colors; they just had different names for them. Or maybe they didn’t see colors as we do. Apparently [language can influence how we see colors](https://qz.com/1454466/your-language-influences-your-color-perception-says-a-new-study/). Mind-boggling. Thanks so much for the info! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/32 "2021-11-27T08:39:11Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > I find it interesting that the Latin word (which was borrowed from the Greek, just as you said) from which the word purple was derived was purpura. I’d heard of purpura before in medical contexts and never made the connection. D’oh! There are some people around named Purpura. Who wants to live their life with a disease name? > **[Purpura (disambiguation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purpura_(disambiguation))** > > Purpura, purple in Latin, may refer to: One such person who was in the news was Michael Purpura, a staff attorney in the Trump administration. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/33 "2021-11-27T12:17:27Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > And there are thousands of Tans, though it’s unrelated to the color. I know a Tan family who isn’t Chinese as well. They are white, so some kind of European, I’m guessing Western, probably mid-continent, but I don’t actually know. > [@hibernicus](#): > > Lots of [Pinks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_(surname)) Well, and there are also “Pinkertons,” and other names with “Pink” in them. > [@nelliebly](#): > > I know purple dye was rare and expensive, but there were purple flowers, like foxglove, “Violet” is definitely a last name, and I’m pretty sure I saw “Foxglove” as a last name of an author, although it could have been a pen-name. > [@gnarator](#): > > Vida Blue? I was going to mention him! I have also personally known someone whose last name was Blue. > [@nelliebly](#): > > Before the word _pink_ appeared, people said _pale rose_ . And, I know a family named “Rose.” They are Jewish, so it could have been something else, that got changed at Ellis Island, but if it didn’t sound like a reasonable last name, I doubt the people at Ellis Island would have chosen it. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/34 "2021-11-27T13:09:21Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > And, I know a family named “Rose.” They are Jewish, so it could have been something else, that got changed at Ellis Island, but if it didn’t sound like a reasonable last name, I doubt the people at Ellis Island would have chosen it. [“Rose”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Rose) is the name of a noble Scottish family; however, it derives neither from the color nor the flower, but from the Norman placename _Ros_. Slight nitpick- immigration officials at Ellis Island didn’t change any names, for the simple reason that they didn’t write any down - they merely checked immigrants’ names against the arriving ship’s manifest. Many immigrants, or their descendents, changed their names themselves; my grandfather did, when he shed his unwieldy (to Americans) Czech name and renamed himself after a baseball player. The idea that immigration officials at Ellis Island carelessly or casually altered immigrants’ names out of ignorance or to “Americanize” them is an urban myth; as a matter of fact, the U.S. government employed translators at Ellis Island, one of them future mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who spoke Italian, Yiddish, and English. > **[GovDocs to the Rescue! Debunking an Immigration Myth | Meszaros | DttP:...](https://journals.ala.org/index.php/dttp/article/view/6655/8939)** > > GovDocs to the Rescue! Debunking an Immigration Myth ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/35 "2021-11-27T14:15:04Z")
Another famous Blue: > **[Josh Blue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Blue)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Josh Blue (born November 27, 1978) is an American comedian. He was voted the Last Comic Standing on NBC's reality show Last Comic Standing during its fourth season, which aired May–August 2006. Blue has cerebral palsy, and much of his self-deprecating humor is centered on this. > Blue was born in Cameroon where his father, Walter Blue, was a professor of Romance languages at Hamline University teaching during a mission. Blue grew up in Saint Paul, ... ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/36 "2021-11-27T16:25:54Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > And, I know a family named “Rose.” They are Jewish, so it could have been something else, that got changed at Ellis Island, but if it didn’t sound like a reasonable last name, Rose is a very common part of many Yiddish names (Rosenbaum, Rosenberg, etc). It refers to the flower. A lot of names were shortened to one syllable by Jewish immigrants or the clerks on Ellis Island. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/37 "2021-11-27T16:27:14Z")
Look just two posts up from yours. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/38 "2021-11-27T16:50:17Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Many immigrants, or their descendents, changed their names themselves In that case, I suspect that some people who either intended to fully assimilate and changed their minds, or tried, then didn’t succeed or weren’t happy, and went back, were nonetheless stuck with the names, making up stories to account for them. I knew several people who told stories of having their names changed _for them_ at Ellis Island, and other people who told stories of this happening to their parents, in such a way, that it was clear they had heard the story about it originally from their parents. I can see people doing such a thing in a just-arrived fervor, and regretting it later, maybe even feeling guilty. The only other thing I can think of is employees jokingly mangling or shortening someone’s difficult (for Americans) name, and the new arrivals misunderstanding these as official assignments. But if LaGuardia tells a different story, I’m sticking with the first explanation. Some people got their names translated, though, and I tend to chalk that up to overly ambitious interpreters, who did not intend to assign a name, but that is what ended up happening. I’m suggesting this, because I am skeptical that new arrivals would know the English for their names. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/39 "2021-11-27T16:52:04Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Anybody who has looked at old photos or movies knows there weren’t even colors until the mid-20th Century and people weren’t named after them until Quintin Tarantino started the practice in the 1990s. I see that you are channeling Calvin and Hobbes: > **[Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for November 09, 2014 | GoComics.com](https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2014/11/09/)** > > Dad: "Wow, honey, you're missing a beautiful sunset out here!" > Mom: "I'll count to 10, and then... POW!" > Calvin: "Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn't they have color film back then?" > Dad: "Sure they did. In facy, those... ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/40 "2021-11-27T17:07:44Z")
Went through Navy boot camp with a guy with the last name Redd. Worked with an engineer with the last name Orange. Said his grandfather did not like the name Jones, it was too common. He changed it to Orange to have a fairly unique last name. Dated a gal with the last name Green. She had a fetish for the color purple, it was the only color of clothing she would wear. My last colorful story in about a former co-worker named Violet Ford. I found a purple Ford Mustang Hot Wheels car and gave it to her. Got a chance to visit her a few years ago on her 85th birthday. That same Hot Wheels car, still in the package, was in a very ornate shadow box hanging on her dining room wall. She said it puts a smile on her face every time she looks at it. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978/41 "2021-11-27T17:19:42Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Why am I Mr. Pink? Why can’t we pick our own colors? “Mr Brown? That’s a little too close to Mr Shit.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-aren-t-more-color-names-used-as-surnames/954978.md?page=3)