How Did Colours Become Last Names?

[@NameExplain]

If you could have any colour as a last name what one would you choose?

[@TheEmoCat]

Turquoise maybe

[@SnarkNSass]

PURPLE!!!💜💜💜💜

[@sadmanislam5111]

magenta

[@hellomynameisjoenl]

Periwinkle.

[@rasmusvanwerkhoven1962]

Amaranth

[@Illumisepoolist]

Speaking of colors, Was there ever a Roy G Biv?

[@fermintenava5911]

There was actually a rapper named Biv - Michael Lamont Bivins.

[@Froge0]

@@fermintenava5911 There is in Sam and Max

[@Robbie-pc1dl]

Bri’ish

[@fermintenava5911]

@@Froge0 I thought that what OP referred to.

[@haseenabadshah5381]

69 likes lmao

[@656hookemhorns]

I went to school with a person named Lloyd Gray, so he was Gray Gray lol, no relation to me.

[@marmac83]

What are the odds, with such a common name? *eyeroll*

[@billylauwda9178]

*50 shades of grey*

[@edi9892]

Ive seen Bianca DeWitt, which would be the corresponding white white LOL

[@jjc5475]

we didn't have last names in the Netherlands. so when napoleon came he forced everyone to choose one. some people rebelled and called themselves shit, ect. cursing their kin for forever. (poepjes)

[@pietergeerse5522]

Or Naaktgeboren (born nude)

[@PureReggae]

Are there any common Dutch names with swears in them? People probably changed a letter or two in it over time

[@Ibelikemj]

So that’s why a bunch of you guys have the same last name as villages

[@jjc5475]

@@Ibelikemj yes for sure!

[@jjc5475]

@@PureReggae they're not that common because many people completely changed their names.

[@arthuruppiano3211]

5:48. Llwyd was also anglicized as "Floyd." So "Pink Floyd" literally means "Pink Grey."

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

I also thought about that... ^_^'

[@Terrus_38]

And George Floyd - George Gray.

[@811brian]

There’s no letter F in Llwyd, so why is it pronounced that way?

[@littelcreatchure506]

why not Lloyd?

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@811brian Welsh has different pronunciation rules for its written language just as Irish does; or French, German, or Spanish.

[@erichtomanek4739]

The surname Black is a contraction from Blacksmith. Smithies are very dirty work places. Hence the smith's skin, before washing, was black. It's also due to hair colour. NOT due to intrinsic skin colour of the English people.

[@misterbk1791]

It actually isn’t to due with the skin majority of english peoples jus over 7000 years ago was dark skin because they eat meat or fish more then they did plants Also majority of English people had dark hair or the fact over 60% people of them would have darker then pasty white skin because of where they lived they weren’t rich they weren’t royal they lived in huts cottages small houses crowded houses streets they had a lot of dust on them etc etc soil as well hard working farmers would have darker skins as not many people had proper baths the earlier you go in England’s history

[@misterbk1791]

Smiths work was actually very clean because they wore more clothing in fact their clothing was black ......... another reason for black smith please correct your information

[@blookarakal4417]

I heard that the same thing happen with the name White. Whitesmith is a real thing

[@OtakuNoShitpost]

Blacksmiths are called as such due to the color of the iron, not from the soot or dirt of the job. Many jobs were dirty

[@TheDuckMan2523]

Blacksmiths get the name from the colour of iron, in the same way that goldsmiths do, and silversmiths,

[@noelaguirrechavez4462]

Speaking of hair names, in spanish there's the last name Rubio, literally blonde

[@jakubpociecha8819]

It's Rubio! *Spills water on people* *Drinks water* *Throws out the bottle*

[@leeallbluem1]

@@jakubpociecha8819 he hit my hand nobody has ever hit my hand i never hear of this one look at those hand are they small hand? and he refer to my hand if they small? something else must be small i guarantee you no problem i guarantee

[@hankbarcelona7314]

And Moreno which means dark-haired or dark-skinned, right?

[@Alex-fv2qs]

And Rojas (the red ones) which is a very common surname

[@arnoldamaral7406]

@@hankbarcelona7314 Olive completed like Sofia Loren & Penelope Cruz. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

[@jonistan9268]

When languages develop 'blue' is one of the last colours to get a name, before that it falls under green. In Homer's epics you won't find 'blue' at all and he uses other words to describe the sea, often comparing it to things we'd call green.

[@grunions9648]

Yes it was sometimes even described as bronze, which is kind of weird to us. The same is true of orange, which is why red squirrels are actually orange for example. The colour was eventually named after the fruit.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@grunions9648 wasn’t that about the depth and lustre, rather than a direct colour comparison? Such as how Irish (the language) traditionally looks at tones and shades much more than hue when deciding which words to label colours with.

[@PristinePerceptions]

@@grunions9648 "Bronze" actually makes perfect sense. If you leave any bronze object outside for long, it oxidizes and turns blue. It seems weird to us because we aren't used to making and using bronze objects in modern daily life.

[@oldvlognewtricks]

The wine-dark sea

[@geekygalaxy4307]

I saw in the Odyssey the sea was called 'purple-dark sea.'

[@kid_doonski]

I've heard that green also may derive from people's eye colors. And since green is a pretty rare eye color it would be a fair distinction between other people.

[@abbyella2370]

This just reminded me of some of my classmates in primary school - we had a Joe Brown, Joe White and Joe Pink! I always thought that was rather strange!

[@fomalhaut_the_great]

insert unclever joe mama joke

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

You had a pack of multicolored Joes

[@nephele16]

Together they can make a Joe rainbow

[@Chigger]

@@fomalhaut_the_great Primary school? None of those colors are primary!

[@DelightfullyGrace]

My brother’s name is Joe Brown lol

[@carterwoodson8818]

This happens in a lot of languages I think too Blanche and Bianca relating to the color white Viridiana is a common spanish name relating to the color green colors are used a lot in names in japan, Aoyama and Midoriyama being blue mountain and green mountain

[@robindemeyer8960]

I must say tho, in my language Dutch, being in the same language family as English this never happens.

[@Alex-fv2qs]

Also, Rojas (the red ones) is a pretty common surname in many spanish speaking countries

[@weijiafang1298]

In a joke project years ago in which characters from Detective Conan are given parody Chinese names, Shuichi Akai was directly given the last name Zhu, because "Akai" is homophone with "Red" in Japanese, while the Chinese family name "Zhu" may also be interpreted as "scarlet."

[@rizzo_grt]

Some Latin-based colour surnames include Rosa (Pink), Rosso/Rossi/Roux and other variations (red), Alba/Alvarez (white), Bianchi/Blanco (white), Prieto (Black) and Bruno (brown).

[@minigrinpins2528]

wait, My aunt’s name is Blanca Alba… WHITE WHITE

[@JL-ti3us]

In South Africa - Oranje is a common last name anongst afrikaans speaker’s.

[@comradesam3029]

The only relation I can think of is the association of orange with the the Dutch/The Netherlands as a whole

[@kaloarepo288]

@@comradesam3029 In the final analysis it doesn't refer to a fruit or a color but to a city in southern France called ORANGE which was in possession of the stadholder William the founder of the Dutch Republic -William inherited the principality from a relative with the proviso that he use it as part of his title.later on the color became associated with it purely because of homophony.

[@poliorcetix979]

@@kaloarepo288 True, and the name of the city has really no relation with the fruit or color, since it comes from the Celtic name meaning "High point of view".

[@randomgamerdude98]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention Spanish last names. Like Rojas, Rosado, Prieto, Negron, etc.

[@musAKulture]

haha now we know what language he doesn't speak a word of

[@sirsytham1588]

Maybe because he is English and his videos are directed to an English audience?

[@randomgamerdude98]

@@sirsytham1588 i just wanted to mention it since he put a number of foreign surnames at the end

[@kevinfalcon4488]

Shout out to CGP. You, him, real life lore, and useful charts are my top educational youtubers.

[@eyjagnau2141]

Agreed

[@nathanides7584]

Wendover + HAI, Veritassium, Physics girl, asapScience

[@arunghadi]

Vsauce, Vsauce2 , Vsauce3....

[@jaishkhan7442]

Thoughty2, Veritasium, Lockstin, Mark Rober, Oversimplified, Exurb1a, SamONella

[@Christian-se5si]

Vox, Johnny Harris, Sabrina and friends, Sam onella, Langfocus, polymatter, and tier zoo

[@alcarbo8613]

There aren't many Blacks in the U.S with the last name Black, but there are a heck of a lot with the last name Brown, surprised you didn't mention it.

[@bluemym1nd]

He did

[@alcarbo8613]

@@bluemym1nd No he didn’t suggest you watch the video again

[@bluemym1nd]

@@alcarbo8613 3:06

[@alcarbo8613]

@@bluemym1nd He doesn’t say Brown is a common Black Name he just says it’s a common name in general, so your wrong

[@isaiah4006]

Fax

[@keriezy]

We call grandma Grandma Black. She remarried. When I was a kid I would say, "I am going to my black grandma's house!"

[@KingNedya]

That reminds me of how when I was a toddler I would call my doctor "Mr. Black Guy"...he wasn't even black, he was Asian.

[@x42brown33]

My surname is Brown. While doing some research in parish records I found an entry saying 'Alister and Mazie of the Cameron having weaved and worn brown cloth since the banning of the tartain are now known as Alister and Mazie Brown'. I like to think that is where my surname comes from but don't honestly know that. Mr White our scoutmaster back in the 40s took the name White to hide his German name.

[@mollybrown8361]

That’s so interesting. My last name is Brown also. Looking at my family I reckon it came from our hair and eye colour as we all have dark features

[@m00njaguar]

The British royal family also changed their last name to hide their original German last name. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a royal family from Germany. Their son became King Edward VII of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. During World War One, the British royal house was to Windsor, taking its name from the royal residence, Windsor Castle.

[@ichbinben.]

I'm German and I actually know a lot of people with the last name "Pink", it's extremely common in the area where I live. But I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the colour, since the word "pink" only became part of our language pretty recently, being borrowed from English. Any other Germans here who have an idea where the German last name "Pink" comes from?

[@vanhavirta]

Could it have something to do with fish, fishing, or fishing boats? See: en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/pink#English

[@holeeshi9959]

in most ancient languages they don't have a specific word for "blue"(they use "black" or "green" to describe the color). which is why Blue is much rarer as a name. and Black comes from the etymology of "Blanc" which means white, so a lot of "Blake" or even "Black" might actually be named after "White".

[@PeterAuto1]

Black and Blanc are related, but the split happened still in proto-Germanic. So at the time Last names came about these were already different

[@schwi5425]

Black and blanc were originally used to mean fire. I’m some languages it came to mean the bright light of the fire and in others the dark soot it left behind. Like the other person said, the split happened thousands of years ago so there isn’t really any possibility of the name black actually meaning white

[@reddhood441]

Black and Blanc come from the same root, however the root rather meant "to burn" and in connection "burnt" if you have ever seen burnt wood, you will notice that it turns black, but it is somewhat reflective and can look white, also ashes are pale white, while soot is black, so the reason there are two different meanings is due to a disagreement between people if charred objects were light or dark in color.

[@fermintenava5911]

There was also another reason for colorful names, especially in Germany: In the 18th til 19th century, Jewish citizens were "suggested" to integrate better into society and receive more civil rights by changing their patrimonial family name into a more German one. To comply with that request while also staying true to their culture, many jews chose themselves names with some symbolical relation to their history. In some cases, they chose colours in accordance to the Twelve tribes of Israel, or in relation to metals and gemstones. The tribe of Ruben, e. g. could be represented by both Rubin or Roth (ruby and red, respectively).

[@jamesfrankel7827]

To add to that names like blau-blue, weiss-white, grun-green, as mentioned schwartz-black.

[@m00njaguar]

I hadn't thought about it before, but the last name "Rothstein", that means "red stone" in German, would probably be an indirect reference to a ruby

[@ignatiusqi9736]

there are many Chinese surnames that's also color names, such as Hong (红, red), Huang (黄, yellow), Lan (蓝, blue), Bai (白, white) etc., but most of them came from names of ancient city-states and does not have any direct connections to the colors per se.

[@kshatrapavan]

In the Marathi ethnicity of India we have such last names. Pāndharé (White), Kālé (Black), Gōré (Fair), Sāvalé (Dark), Dhavalé (White), Hiravé (Green), Nilé (Blue), Tāmbadé (Red), Zāmbhalé (Purple), Pātalé (Pink). In addition to the usual place name and occupation based last names, there are also last names after animals, trees, vegetables, spices and even disabilities!

[@modmaker7617]

So the Green Ninja; Lloyd Garmadon from LEGO Ninjago is more in common with grey rather than green.

[@octoberviberations233]

Finally Someone said it

[@KingNedya]

That's exactly what I thought of when I saw that Lloyd means grey as well.

[@nebulan]

Huang makes sense as a Chinese location last name after the yellow river which has had people living in its shores for millennias.

[@wj11jam78]

A note about the name "Blue", in the past the colour blue was not distinguished from the colour green. Like how in modern English, blue is usually not differentiated from cyan, even through they are very different colours. It's possible that many people with the name "Green" could have actually been named after something blue.

[@RonnieOP]

Just one thing about the last name "Schwartz" and the colour it relates to The colour is actually spelt without the t ("schwarz") which is also a last name btw

[@wolfpackjew]

I wonder if the t was added in Yiddish, since Schwartz is a common Jewish last name.

[@NateWatson51503]

@@wolfpackjew I assume the "t" was added in English to try to retain the same pronunciation, as a German "z" actually has three sounds: t, s, z, in that order.

[@Chigger]

It became Gray Matter when White was involved.

[@garyskyner5855]

Born and bred in the UK and never once have I heard of 'Cluedo' being called 'Clue' here. Surely you meant it is called 'Clue' in the US?

[@hollybrown8449]

If this is interesting to anyone, apparently my family’s last name is Brown due to their occupation. The Brown surname for us came from when they were Irish farmers and the Brown name was from the soil :)

[@atomic_guy3528]

I believe that mine (also brown) comes from brown hair/eyes

[@stephenwright8824]

I knew a woman called Brown whose family came from, Scotland and, according to her grandfather, pronounced it like the French _brun_ in Scotland.

[@daimonhampton]

I don't really trust the re search on this

[@derekdufon5069]

This video requires a video explaining why you guys call that game “cluedo”

[@sohopedeco]

In Brazil, we call it "Detetive" (detective).

[@derekdufon5069]

@@sohopedeco what the what??

[@macaroon_nuggets8008]

I guess you could say, "I have no clue."

[@dilbert719]

It's pun based on the game Ludo, which was brought to America as Parcheesi.

[@derekdufon5069]

@@dilbert719 you call Parcheesi “Ludo”!!!?? :-O

[@myscreen2urs]

When you said "Regenbogan", I had a completely different image in mind. I can't actually picture Regan as a bogan.

[@thepixelstash3078]

I also suspect that color names could have come from dyers who were known to sell a particular color. Likely most common with red, yellow, and blue, since those were fairly common dyes made out of madder root, weld, and woad respectively.

[@marna_li]

Eva Green is French, of Swedish descent on her fathers side. Green is an alternative spelling of ”gren” (long e) meaning ”branch” as in tree branch. The ”gren” part is common as part of surnames, like Lundgren (”grove branch”) or Liljegren (”lily branch”)

[@mediumjohnsilver]

I had imagined that the last name “Green” may have derived from an occupation such as greengrocer, and was shortened.

[@wobbles3217]

I think black, white and brown last names are vocational, referring to blacksmiths, whitesmiths (people who work with nickel and pewter) and brownsmiths (i believe those are coppersmiths or bronze smiths)

[@TheFranchiseCA]

Copper is greensmithing.

[@cazrethomas]

Unless the last name black came about after/during slavery, I would say its probably based on occupation or hair color, not skin color

[@aarontalksculture4946]

I just want to point out that "black" and "white" are just generic labels we assign to ethnic groups or races. Grab a piece of black construction paper and tell me how long it is before you find a person with a matching skin tone. Most "black" people are literally a shade of brown and most "white" people are literally a shade of tan. They're just words, not accurate descriptions of skin tone.

[@janderson1008]

Thank you, most people must be blind or not understand color who cannot see that.

[@Elistarielle]

I once had an (African American) art teacher who said essentially the same thing. He held up a sheet of white paper and said, of you are this color, you are dead. *Holds up sheet of black paper* and if you are this color, you are burnt to a crisp. 😆 Nobody is (literally) black or white, or any other racially-named color.

[@mr.bluefox3511]

Omg @@Elistarielle, reading about what your art teacher said somehow make me dying of laughter XD Men, any teacher with some form of knowledge about Art always teach the best thing about life itself.

[@daimonhampton]

Yo was bothering me the entire video, then he said unlike the others pink doesnt occur in nature....im like white people are why pinker than they are ever white.

[@sirsytham1588]

Obviously

[@jacoblevin2178]

Are you going to do a second video on Silver (like Nate Silver) and Gold with it's variants (Goldstone, Goldstein), maybe other stones and metals (I can think of Steel and Steele)?

[@AT-yn9dm]

Humans do have the color green on their bodies, we have green eyes.

[@neon_skies5821]

and our veins too in a way

[@hannayoung9657]

In Sweden we have people with the surname Blå ( Blue), Gul ( yellow), Vit ( White), Grön ( Green), Brun ( Brown), Svart ( black), Grå ( Grey), Orange ( orange) and Lila ( Purple).

[@Furienna]

Har vi? Jag har då aldrig sett de efternamnen.

[@karenchristinewise7833]

Black was probably derived from a blacksmith or from the prince of adders black. White probably comes from white or fair hair. In Irish, Fionn was blonde it became Finn in English, Donnacha meant brown haired, Rua was red haired, Rua Ri was a red haired king, Rory is the English. Gorm means blue, so any surname Gorman, Gormley is to do with blue. Dubh means black, Dubh Gall translates as black-haired stranger is now Douglas in English.

[@randylmacwhite9666]

Bán or Bháin means white in Irish

[@karenchristinewise7833]

@@randylmacwhite9666 Fionn is fair, as in blonde. Dearg is red but rua is for an animal, an madra rua is a fox. An Gaelige agat? Different words for different circumstances. I was ash blonde and my sister was platinum. A fair-haired person was never called bui. Rugadhim i mBaile Atha Cliath.

[@eyjagnau2141]

This was such a great video! Your channel is very entertaining!

[@tc2334]

As an English teacher in Asia, students have asked me why English-speaking people have colors as last names, so I needed this. Thank you. lol

[@johnscanlan9335]

Also in German the word for red is roth. And in Germany and Austria the last name Roth is pretty common.

[@anlumo1]

There's also the famous family called Rothschild (red shield), which all English speakers (at least on KZbin) incorrectly pronounce as roth's child.

[@vivaeljason]

Blue came about later than other color names, so it's possible that's another reason why the name is uncommon.

[@marmac83]

How did colours become clickbait?

[@alsmoviebarn]

"This hardcore ghetto gangsta image takes a lot of practice, I'm not black like Barry White no I am white like Frank Black is"

[@KnuckleHunkybuck]

If man is 5 and the devil is 6 then that must make me 7.

[@Donut-Eater]

my surname means "red man", probably after red hair, but since red hair is a very recessive trait it probably disappeared from my family for probably a long time, but now me, my brother, and my paternal grandmother have red hair but no other biological relatives have red hair

[@SuprousOxide]

You would think blue or red would be a more common name BECAUSE there are less people with blue eyes are red hair. Why would brown be common? Which Joe do you mean? Oh, the Joe with brown hair. But ALL the Joes have brown hair... But if you're talking about the Cindy with Red hair, that's likely to be a good descriptor

[@oldvlognewtricks]

Russell, Flanagan, Couch, Gough, Radcliffe, Roy, Roth, Rothschild all refer to the colour red The surname Gorman means ‘little blue one’.

[@HotelPapa100]

The fact that brown is a common hair colour actually speaks AGAINST it becoming a name. You tend to pick features that set people apart.

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Eva Green's name doesn't come from the English word green, but rather from a Swedish cognate, "gren," which means branch or tree limb. of course, the English word green also comes from the same proto-germanic root word for plants.

[@debodatta7398]

9:35 pink doesn't occur around us? Look at your skintone... ALSO In ancient China and India we called Europeans pink people lmfao

[@sc1338]

Racist!... we’re white! Lol it’s all good we call you guys yellow so we’re even

[@mr.turdlybird4387]

i don’t know about other languages, but particularly for ashkenazi jews, german color names are common, like schwarz, weiss, goldberg, geller, rotman, gruenberg, etc but blau is more rare and people don’t usually have the last name blue

[@sadmanislam5111]

great video What is your favourite colour as a name?

[@allanrichardson1468]

Lots of people of German or Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry have surnames of Weiss (White) or Schwartz (Black). Examples: Erich Weiss, the birth name of Harry Houdini; Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American actor and former Governor of California.

[@alankent]

Great video! Very informative. What about "Violet?" I know it as a feminine first name. Is it also a last name? Gold and silver are common. Both are used in combination names as well. Are these used because of being colors or precious metals?

[@oldvlognewtricks]

Violet is a flower name, and precious metals were frequently taken as family names, just as gemstones were popular given names. They still work, since the colours were named after the plants/metals, but I don’t think the names refer to the colours specifically.

[@emmahenderson2737]

I like the Japanese name Midori which means green :) I think the name Blair means white too

[@heatherswanson1664]

That's interesting for Blaire White who chose her first name

[@AT-yn9dm]

You forgot to talk about the English/German surnames "Gold" and "Silver".

[@oldvlognewtricks]

Are they referring to colours, or metals? I suppose it works either way.

[@deplatformedcrowprinceluna6339]

The mandarin word for yellow (黄/黃/Huáng/Huang) and red (红/紅/Hóng/Hong) are popular and also common to Chinese speakers and ethnic Han Chinese people.

[@TransparentPickle]

You should do how colours got their names. Love the content!

[@sohopedeco]

He already has that video.

[@SP-bt9mp]

That's what i thought this video was going to be about when i pressed it xD

[@samuelscott1113]

So when are you going to make a video about the names of colours.

[@clar1nettist204]

speaking of hair colours, what about ginger? it's a common female first name and could be related to the cooking ingredient. and in Japanese, the word "shiro/白" means white and is a name

[@elijahyamauchi]

Aoi, and Midori are popular Japanese first names that mean blue and green respectively

[@joshuaswart8211]

This video made me unreasonably happy. I've got a colour-based last name! (But not an English one)

[@rparl]

Except there's no brown in the rainbow.

[@SnarkNSass]

Garys and Lucys!😂😂

[@victorgomes103]

Is that a reference to something?

[@SnarkNSass]

@@victorgomes103 yeppers. Where do surnames come from? A way to tell apart the Garys and Lucys....

[@victorgomes103]

@@SnarkNSass I know you were quoting the video, but I thought "Garys and Lucys" was a reference to some work of media.

[@SnarkNSass]

@@victorgomes103 oh lol. IDK. If it is... Went over my head too😂

[@justinahole336]

...so..."Pink Floyd" = "Cheerful Grey"...huh...who knew?...

[@RobotWillie]

I will use this video to pay tribute to my grandma on my dads side who died this July 2020 of cancer of the bladder and pneumonia , sadly also I now have no grandparents that are living. Her last name was Brown, although it was the last name of the last guy she was married to for a brief time, a guy my dad or I never met, but she never went back to a maiden name or a different married name even though it'd been a few decades since they were married. So she is the only member of my family who had the last name Brown, as she didn't have kids with the guy. No one else close to me has a color last name but I will always be reminded of my grandma Rose when I hear the name Brown even though it is not a name that runs in the family and was just a married name.

[@ivc6482]

Big man

[@leozyxs]

Not color related but my last name is from dutch origin and it literally means "what here", it makes me wonder how it became a surname

[@keetrandling4530]

The fact that BLUE is rare as a surname shouldn't surprise anyone who knows that the word BLUE is more recent in language tham any other color name.

[@douglasphillips5870]

I heard Russell comes from the color of rust.

[@EvaSnyder]

There is a lot of speculation in this video. I had hoped for data. Pink Name Meaning English: nickname, possibly for a small person, from Middle English pink, penk ‘minnow’ (Old English pinc). English (southeastern): variant of Pinch. Variant spelling of German Pinck, an indirect occupational name for a blacksmith, an onomatopoeic word imitating the sound of hammering which was perceived as pink(e)pank. German (of Slavic origin): from a diminutive of Sorbian pien ‘log’, ‘tree stump’, hence probably a nickname for a solid or stubby person. Green Name Meaning English: one of the most common and widespread of English surnames, either a nickname for someone who was fond of dressing in this color (Old English grene) or who had played the part of the ‘Green Man’ in the May Day celebrations, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a village green, Middle English grene (a transferred use of the color term). In North America this name has no doubt assimilated cognates from other European languages, notably German Grün (see Gruen). Jewish (American): Americanized form of German Grün or Yiddish Grin, Ashkenazic ornamental names meaning ‘green’ or a short form of any of the numerous compounds with this element. Irish: translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from glas ‘gray’, ‘green’, ‘blue’. See also Fahey. North German: short form of a habitational name from a place name with Gren- as the first element (for example Greune, Greubole). Black Name Meaning Scottish and English: from Middle English blak(e) ‘black’ (Old English blæc, blaca), a nickname given from the earliest times to a swarthy or dark-haired man. Scottish and English: from Old English blac ‘pale’, ‘fair’, i.e. precisely the opposite meaning to 1, and a variant of Blake 2. Blake and Black are found more or less interchangeably in several surnames and place names. English: variant of Blanc as a Norman name. The pronunciation of the nasalized vowel gave considerable difficulty to English speakers, and its quality was often ignored. Scottish and Irish: translation of various names from Gaelic dubh ‘black’ (see Duff). Danish and Swedish: generally, probably the English and Scottish name, but in some cases perhaps a variant spelling of Blak, a nickname from blak ‘black’. In some cases, a translation of various names meaning ‘black’, for example German and Jewish Schwarz. Gray Name Meaning English: nickname for someone with gray hair or a gray beard, from Old English græg ‘gray’. In Scotland and Ireland it has been used as a translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from riabhach ‘brindled’, ‘gray’ (see Reavey). In North America this name has assimilated names with similar meaning from other European languages. English and Scottish (of Norman origin): habitational name from Graye in Calvados, France, named from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gratus, meaning ‘welcome’, ‘pleasing’ + the locative suffix -acum. French and Swiss French: habitational name from Gray in Haute-Saône and Le Gray in Seine-Maritime, both in France, or from Gray-la-ville in Switzerland, or a regional name from the Swiss canton of Graubünden

[@VictorLima-mv4ni]

ALLO IT ME LEEROY ORANG

[@arandomhewo7966]

r/ihadastroke

[@Taima]

Unless you happened to mention it after the section on Green, you might also have wanted to note that people can have green eyes too. And gray for that matter.

[@PockASqueeno]

I’ve never heard the surname “blue.”

[@alankent]

Blue is an interesting color in that many cultures did not have that color till more recent times. It came into use when someone figured out how to create blue dye. Throughout history, the sky was called by many colors but not blue. Being that it is a recent addition to the color wheel, I believe it is why blue is not common as a surname

[@fermintenava5911]

In Germany, there are quite a few people named Blau.

[@PockASqueeno]

@@alankent What was the sky called before?

[@evan-moore22]

@@PockASqueeno it was its own idea. Since the color of the sky is available for everyone to see, authors would use it to describe other blue things. Also, more famously, Homer uses "wine-colored" for the sea during a storm, and he uses "rosy fingers" for the Dawn. So, since the sky during the day and the sea were the only things that were blue for the ancient Greeks, other colors took precedence in naming/deriving their own word from an adjective.

[@dilbert719]

I can't think of many examples, but there was a former MLB pitcher, probably best known for pitching for the Oakland As in the 70s, named Vida Blue.

[@lukedetering4490]

5:53 Sorry Lloyd. You are not the green ninja

[@mrmacguff1n]

My last name is Roan, which is a color pattern of a horses coat. Still wondering where that started

[@danorott]

What?! I thought your name was MacGuffin. I've been lied to!

[@mrmacguff1n]

@@danorott Bamboozled again

[@istvansipos9940]

in Hungarian, "szürke" is gray in general, and "ősz" is gray hair colour. None of these words is a widespread family name, though

[@Random2]

Really, no mention of Arnold Schwarzeneger? I mean, seriously, look at his family name!!

[@Perririri]

Schwarz + Negro ( black _twice_ )

[@BolshephobicBabe]

Lol nah more likely schwarzen as black, and egg like ridge, and er like person from Schwarzenegg which is probably a place in Austria

[@Furienna]

@@BolshephobicBabe Hm... Yeah, that would make sense.

[@terrencestearns3648]

blue is thought to be a more recently named (possibly even seen) color so it makes sense that it wouldn’t be the most common color-based last name

[@davidroddick91]

My own last name comes from the Scottish word for "Red." I believe my ancestor was called "Roddick" because he had red hair.

[@seancondon5572]

2:35 - "Or Family Based" meaning like "I am Worf, Son of Mogh!"

[@StamfordBridge]

Common Russian names based on color: Chernov (black), Belov (white), Serov (gray). There are more but those are the most common ones that comes to mind.

[@Jan_Koopman]

Van Oranje-Nassau is absolutely their last name. However, now that I think about it, it could be that indeed "Van Oranje" is the title, but not their last name, BECAUSE that is Van Oranje-Nassau...

[@JonatasAdoM]

I'll be honest. Most non native speakers must hate all the many double words in the English language. I used think that "grey" was the colo and "Gray" was the name people used; or vice versa, I can't recall it. Pig for me was the animal alive, pork was the animal served as a dish.

[@DhanuRadha5]

Indian living in Hungary here. Fun fact, a loooot of people here in Hungary have colors as their surname, it was something I found really interesting and always wondered why was this the case...

[@TheFirstManticore]

In ancient Greece, though it's surrounded by ocean, the word "blue" is rare in literature. The sea was called "wine-dark," for instance, and was rather considered a shade of black. Hmm. Blue is uncommon in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures also.

[@oldvlognewtricks]

Not just rare - non-existent. It’s understood the colour didn’t exist even in a neurological sense until the Egyptians traded their lapis-derived pigments. There are still cultures who cannot distinguish blues from greens as their language and environment doesn’t require the distinction (and also some that make distinctions between colours of blue and green that modern western people can’t identify).

[@lornaduwn]

While reading a book about the Scottish Clans which listed the names associated with each clan, I came across a mention of the reason that many Scottish families have color names. During the time when many Scottish families fled to Ireland to escape the turmoil of war, they changed their names in order to maintain the secrecy of their origin. Many clans adopted a certain color as their surname. so that, once in Ireland, if they came across a person named Brown or Black they would know which clan they came from and be able to recognize their clan members.

[@scottthorn6858]

There's plenty of black people mostly in America and Caribbean with the last name White.

[@felipegonzalezklever9762]

I thought Green was cuz of green eyes

[@TheMarshmellowLife]

Brown is probably not most people's favorite color. Technology connections has entered the chat

[@AnkerPeet]

When I lived in Peru, there was a surname I came across 'Puca Puca' which is Quechua for 'Red Red'.

[@Onibushou]

Not mentioning Betty White. >.>

[@aadityachavan781]

How the fuck did you know? This is what I just grabbed my phone to search for when I saw this notification

[@FenrizNNN]

My last name is derived from the word "Nobre" (Portuguese for royal)

[@SandyTidwell]

Green can be characteristic based. Perhaps the original holders had green eyes.

[@bea4790]

Member of a Green family here. I've done a bit of research and apparently it originated in the family/individual being close to the town green/lawn

[@Invalid-user13k]

Colors have a lot of last names arrive due to The last name necessity 5:33 Like Long John Silver's

[@ianeons9278]

Green doesn't mean you are peaceful that's the last name of the bully at my school who likes my crush and slammed someone into a locker.