Have you ever wondered about the origin of colours, or rather the names of colours? well, not the primary colours, but the many different shades. It appears that colour names are very much indicators of the type of environment encountered by certain communities and social circles. The most common example of such a colour would be 'army green'. Someone with no knowledge at all about the military would not be able to comprehend what this colour is. Someone who has served in the military and hated it, would associate army green with something unpleasant, while someone who loves the military or is strongly patriotic and supportive of national service may think that it's a nice colour. Or of course, there are those who simply like that shade of green. But where in the past shades of colours were simply light or dark, or lighter than that or darker than that, now there is an astounding number of names you could attribute to different shades of colours. One thing I've noticed is that how a colour is named is reflective of how strong the priming is for that colour, when the name is mentioned. Let me illustrate with an example.

Think 'Tiffany's Blue'. What colour do you immediately think of? Is it that distinctive shade of turquiose blue associated with the jewellery brand Tiffany's? For someone with no prior knowledge of what Tiffany's is, the shade does not come to mind, perhaps what does appear in his mind is the prototypical primary colour, blue. Hence, the names of colours are the result of priming, and they also prime the readers or listeners to think of certain types of colours. This priming is absent for me, in colours such as Cornflower Blue, or Dartmouth Green. But again, to people who have encountered cornflowers or perhaps live in dartmouth, would know these colours well.

But actually, what started me off on this topic, was when I saw an advertisement for laptops at the bus stop by chance. I won't put up pictures because the words are really small anyway. But what struck me was the colours they used. The laptops were described as Midnight Black Gloss, and Heatwave Red. I then went online to search for other colours associated with laptops and also handphones. Here are some of the names I got:

Crimson Red; Spring Green; Tuxedo Black; Obsidian Black; Ice Blue; Promise Pink; Matte Black Paint; Cherry Red; Arctic Silver; Pacific Blue; Garnet Red; Luminous Silver; Rich Merlot; Lilac Violet; Candy Pink; Steel Blue; Cosmic Blue; Silver Sail; Silver Quartz; Night Black; Ice Silver; Copper Gold; Tender Rose; Tocco Pink; Passionate Purple; Aqua Blue; Pistachio; Lavender; Thunder Grey; Crystal Blue; Night Black; Heaven Blue; Dark Red; Silk Bronze; Hearty Red; Noble Black; Havana Bronze; Silky White; Lipstick Pink; Prime Silver; Electric Purple; Black Champagne; Magnetic Grey; Atlantic Blue; Mysterious Greenl; Spring Yellow; Contrasted Copper; Ice Purple; Silver Steel; Phantom Grey; Rose Pink; Luster Black; Airy Blue; Truffle Brown; Ultra Violet; Sandy Beige; Henna bronze; Soft Black; Natural Brown; Serene Black; Diamond Black; Dusted Rose; Vinyl Black; Morning White; Silent Black; Frost White; Ocean Blue; Sapphire Blue; Metallic Blue; Acid Green; Candy Red; Metallic Green; Caramel; Noble Blue; Golden Ivory; Velvet Blue; Quicksilver Black; Candy Pink; Wasabi Green; Fatal Red; Storm Blue; Emerald Green; Vivid Blue; Bubble Gum Pink; Mandarin; Azure Blue; Lime Tree Green; Iron Blue; Growing Green; Midnight Blue; Eclipse Black; Precious Gold; Festival Orange; Viola Black; Special Silver; Bright Lilac; Pristine White; Muted Gray; Indigo Blue; Hot Pink; Warm Silver; Turquoise; Sweet Pink; Aquatic Nut; Mono Blue; Cosmos Black, Satin Blue; Stealth Black; Rose Gold; Sparkling Rose; Cranberry White; Onyx; Cobalt; Achromatic Black; Metal Rose; Pearly Rose; Lucid Blue; Spring Rose; Lime Forest; Icecap Blue; Charcoal Gray, Noir Black; Lilac Violet; Queen Blue.

Now I'm on a roll. Let's look at the names of some hair-dye colours:

Raven Black; Jet Black; Bluish Black; Brown Black; Brown Umber; Golden Blonde; Sahara; Henna Red; Flame Red; Mahogany; Walnut Red Brown; Chestnut Brown; Natural Brown; Henna Black; Copper Blonde; Indian Summer; Nougat Brown; Tizian; Teak; Yellow; Royal Blue; Wine Red; Orange; Natural Black; Natural Darkest Brown; Extra Light Blonde; Dark Toffee Blonde; Mahogany Blonde; Platinum Blonde; Rich Chocolate Brown; Ash Blonde; Mango Jelly; Honey Brown; Orange Biscuit; Caramel Brown; Pure Natural; Juicy Peach; Almond Chocolate; Jewelry Ash; Beauty Muave; Honey Peanut; Vanilla Beige; Milk Tea Brown; Bitter Cappuccino; Terracotta Blonde; Light Golden Chestnut; Fire Red; Wheat Germ Blonde; Hazelnut Blonde; Ebony Black; Honey Blonde; Butterscotch Blonde; Strawberry Blonde; Chocolate Brown; Copper Red; Creme Caramel; Light Auburn; Buttered Toast; Chocolate Copper; Ginger Blonde; Golden Wheat; Midnight Blue; Luminour Blonde; Brown Cinnamon; Burgundy Blush; Brown Sable; Warm Mocha; Sunkissed Brown; Rich Wine; Red Hot Rhythm; Brown Sugar; Roman Sunset; Glazed Strawberry; Golden Walnut; Praline Foil; Glazed Cranberry; Honey Pecan; Mocha Foil; Glazed Apricot; Glzaed Sand; Glazed Fire; Silver Mist; White Mist; Glazed Vanilla; Buttered Walnut; Nutmeg; Ocean Blue; Ice White; Cognac Light Copper Red; Pastel Pink; Barbie Pink; Stop Sign Red; Fuschia; Honey Moon; Gold; UV Chrome; UV Yellow; UV Neon Green; Emerald Green; UV Flashlight; Navy Blue; UV Electric Blue; Baby Blue; Royal Purple; Lavender; Lilac; Wisteria; Neon Violet; Black Orchid; Vamp Red; Mahogany Plum Blonde; Marigold Yellow; Sunset Yellow.

So, there appears to be patterns in the naming of colours with respect to hair or to gadgets. The gadget colour names seem to be more metallic, and tend to be 'cooler', with higher usage of ice, metallic, arctic and other words that convey ideas of coldness, or the 'cool' factor. Most of the colours that appeared tended towards silver, black, white, blue and red. Most of the colours are the cooler colours of the spectrum rather than the warmer ones such as pink, orange or yellow. This could be due to the fact that gadgets are mostly metal, and there is no passion to be ignited with association to the colours of gadgets. Even for the red colours, the names are more 'mysterious', with uses of words like 'crimson'. Hair colour names on the other hand, appear to be warmer and more attractive, with high usage of words associated with food such as 'strawberry', 'honey', etc. This could be because people dye their hair in order to look more attractive. With the use of words such as the abovementioned, the people who dye their hair with attractive colours might, by association become more attractive. Also with hair dye colours, they tend towards the warmer colours (that perhaps ignite passion?) such as red, brown and yellow.

However, in the research of these colours, what I realized was that the names seldom, if ever, truly reflected the actual nature of the colour. Instead, they were named to invoke particular emotions in the viewer, so as to attract them to purchase the product in that particular colour. So hair colour seemed to contain more words which portrayed attractiveness and 'good enough to eat' feelings, whereas hardware colours tended to make use of more 'metallic' or 'cool' words.

Another interesting thing to note is that the pink colours in both categories tend to have more feminine words such as 'rose' in them, perhaps to attract females? Also, what makes some words suitable for use in the description of colours and not others? For example, it is common to hear of the shade of yellow that is 'sunshine yellow'. But Cheddar cheese is the same colour, so how come no one ever says 'cheddar cheese yellow'?

Haha wow that took a long time. But interesting huh? We could even look at colour names of other categories of things!