In a humdrum moment of pure laziness, my mind wandered and began to contemplate the eyes of both Christian Grey and Gideon Cross. Not an unpleasant way to laze away the time. Authors these days, particularly the hot sex, rom/dom/sub types, have their protagonists with unusual hair and eye color combinations. In Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian has copper colored hair with gray eyes whilst Ana has auburn hair with blue eyes. In the Crossfire series, Gideon has black hair with blue eyes and Eva has blond hair with gray eyes. I agree that black hair and blue eyes as well as auburn hair with blues eyes may not be that unusual. But what’s with the gray eye thing? So I let my mind go all stream of consciousness a la James Joyce. (OMG, in college I took one whole course on his writings. Other than the penis floating in the water like a flower, that’s about all I remember.) What is so important about the eyes, other than for seeing? Well, according to a Yiddish proverb, “the eyes are the mirror to the soul”. I found some interesting useless info but hey, I’m satisfying my curiosity, right? Read more…
Ok. Let’s start with how many different eye colors there are. I guess you could say there are fifty shades of eye color. Enough already. No, seriously folks, there are a plethora of eye colors ranging from the darkest shades of brown to the lightest tints of blue. But basically there are 7 dominant eye colors, some more dominant than others. They are:
Gray:
Blue:
Brown:
Green:
Red/Violet:
Hazel: I couldn’t find a picture of hazel eyes but they’re a combination of green and brown. Elizabeth Taylor is famous for her hazel eyes.
OK there are your eye colors. I must say that I don’t ever remember meeting anyone with gray eyes nor with red/violet eyes. And I look at peoples eyes. As stated above, they are the mirror of the soul. Anyway, what is interesting is that in the US, we’ve become a more brown eyed nation like the rest of the world. Some estimates indicate that more than 50% of the world is brown eyed. It did not use to be that way in the US. According to a 2002 study, 57.4% of people born between 1899 through 1905 were born with blue eyes. The same study reported that 33.8% of the US population between 1936 and 1951 was born with blue eyes. As of 2006, the New York Times reported that only 1 out of 6 Americans are born with blues eyes today. Why is this? Marriage patterns and the change in ethnicity in the US. In the olden days, people tended to marry within their own ethnicity. It is not so today. Between 1900-1950 only 1 of 10 Americans was non-white. Today that ratio is 1 in 3. Blue eyed people generally are from Europe particularly the Baltic sea area. But they are also found in Afghanistan, Syria and Iran. Most of our immigrants today are either from Asia or Latin America.
But let’s look at our man Christian and our gal Eva. Gray eyes…Gray eyes are most common in Northern and Eastern Europe but also can be found in parts of North West Africa and the Middle East. Since gray eyes are a variant of blue and with Grey’s copper hair, I’d put him with Irish ancestry. Eva, on the other hand, with the blond hair and variant blue eyes (gray), could be from anywhere in Europe but probably Northern Europe. Famous people with gray eyes (let’s suppose they’re not wearing contacts): Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Pierce Brosnan, Nicole Kidman and Oscar Wilde. I tried to find a percentage of gray eyed people in the world and all I could find was a 1-2% number.
This is getting long. I did want to leave you with this about eye color and personalities. Of course someone came up with this. As with all these kinds of things, take it with a grain of salt.
Brown Eyes: Connotes pertaining to the earth, creativity, courage, fertility, growth, energy, endurance: Those with brown eyes are known to be grounded and are not swayed by materialistic desires or tendencies, They are close to nature and seem to perform best when working in accordance with it. Yet, they are independent and strong.
Hazel Eyes: Inner courage and independence: Those hazel colored eyes portray the ability to heal oneself, sensitivity and empathy for others and are yet exuberant themselves.
Green Eyes: Good health, youth and innocence, life force, vegetation, freshness: The green color pertains to the ability to heal. Those with green eyes are spiritual in nature but not necessarily religious. They are vibrant yet compassionate and are known to be very creative.
Blue Eyes: Energy of the sky and sun, direct conscious thought: The color blue has often been associated with clairvoyant abilities and the capacity to see visions of the past and future. Those with blue eyes are assertive and direct, are full of life and have a keen sense of observation.
Gray Eyes: Weather, water, change, wisdom, mystery: Gray eyes are known to portray a deep inner strength that cannot be affected by any outside force. People with gray eyes are known to be sensitive and profound. They have the ability to manipulate themselves according to the need of their surroundings.*info from buzzle.com
Interesting info. I even found a map at Bigthink.com that had a map with the demographics of blondes in Europe…
Blogger’s note: I was advised by a friend that it might be worth adding in my own ancestry and eye color. I am 1/2 Bohemian, 1/4 German and 1/4 Dutch, Irish, English. Your typical American mutt. I have light brown hair and blue/green eyes. My younger sister is the same. My older sister, however, has dark brown hair and brown eyes.
The researcher who did the study mentioned in the NYT came up with the idea of an “eye” study because he would go into assisted living homes and see all these blue variant eyes looking back at him. Did it have something to do with longevity? Nope. Marriage patterns and the change of ethnicity.
Alicia says
The picture of grays eyes you have are my gray eyes 🙂