What Color Will My Baby’s Eyes Be?

I am not a geneticist, but the probability chart in this article seems to defy common sense and contradict reality. For example, it says that two parents with brown eyes has only 75% chance of having children with brown eyes, whereas two parents with blue eyes have 99% chance of having children with blue eyes (same with green). If this were true, then the world should be gradually filled with people with blue or green eyes. This is certainly not happening, certainly not in the three continents of Asia, South America and North America where I have lived for at least a decade each. Even if we just consider Caucasians, we would certainly see a lot more with blue or green eyes.

Hering Cheng, 3 months ago

Keep in mind that the chart assumes heterozygous parents, meaning that parents with brown eyes would be assumed to have one brown gene (dominant) and one blue or green gene (recessive). In places like Asia, Africa, and South and Central America, of course, the heterozygous assumption doesn't hold; virtually everyone there is homozygous, with two brown-eye genes. So if one or both of the parents is not caucasian, the chart isn't valid. In fact, no chart is needed at all in that case: the child will almost certainly have brown eyes.

The chart also makes some assumptions about the likelihood of a recessive gene being blue or green that probably don't hold in the general population. Really, the chart is most useful for demonstrating how different genes interact when they do come in contact than anything else.

Paul McLeod, 3 months ago

My eye color is a quirk of the eye color inheritance. One parent has blue eyes, and the other has green. I came out with brown. My mother's family has only blue eyes, and my father's side has only green, with the exception of his mother, who has brown. Explain that!

Alexis Masters, 3 months ago

This is really scientifically incorrect. Eye color depends upon dominant and recessive genes. My father has brown eyes, my mother has blue eyes and my sister and I both have green eyes. You cannot say that a child has a 0% chance of having brown eyes coming from parents with blue and green eyes. It just doesn't work that way!

sabrina, 3 months ago

I find this chart hard to believe. My daughter is expecting her first child and is hoping that her baby has her husband beautiful blue blue eyes as she has green. But I have brown and my husband has blue which the chart states that we will not have any green eyed children. Well 2 out of our 3 children have green and the other has brown like me. So I guess she will have to wait and see for herself!

Jeanna Shepard, 3 months ago

The eye chart is sort of strange to me. My Mom has brown eyes and my Dad has blue eyes. I have hazel eyes. My Mother-in-law has brown eyes and so does my Father-in-law but my husband also has hazel eyes. What does that mean for our children?

JILL, 3 months ago

I have hazel eyes (more amber), but unti I was 12 they changed from grey to hazel, then they stopped changing only lighter or darker. I am female, but look so much like my father (including the eyes). None of my siblings have my eye color, none of my father's siblings had it, none of his parents or siblings had it, only his maternal grandfather. My youngest son has medium brown eyes, but not as light as mine. My eyes look green in the sun & seem darker in the winter and lighter in the summer and I have been told they change color when I get angry. What causes this? I hate that contacts were ever invented. I am AfricaN American & no one ever believes my eyes are real even after they ask me. I can't wait to see what my grandkids will look like someday since my husband is African American & Caucasian. My great grandparents were Native American, AFrican American, & Caucasian. Genetics is really interesting. My youngest son looks Hispanic and has hair down to his rear, but very curly and people think he's hispanic, but my oldest son looks darker and AFrican American, but the only trait they share are dimples (which don't run in my family and the kids are 12 years apart in age. My middle son looks exactly like my husband. My oldest looks like my father when he was 12, and I look exactly like him as he got older. Add a mustache and cut my hair and that's him (eyes and all).

Toni B., 3 months ago

lighter colour eyes seem to be dominant in my family. My dads side of the family is from norway and chile, however all 6 kids in his family are dark skinned dark eyes. my dads sister who is dark haired dark eyed just had a baby with her husband who is 100% from south america and dark as well. The son that they had was blue eyed and blonde hair! My sister is the same as their son(light) and i also have blue eyes, however my mother has blue eyes! and my grandma has one brown eye and one blue eye ! its cool!

michelle, 3 months ago

I agree that the chart is inaccurate. My entire family has light blue eyes, and my children's father's entire family has dark brown eyes. Our daughter and younger son have eyes that are sometimes hazel and sometimes amber. They are both redheads. Our older son (the middle child) has brown hair and eyes that are sometimes yellow and sometimes light green. Everyone says they look like cat eyes. In black and white pictures, my very light blue eyes and his cat eyes look clear. It's eery. You never know what you're gonna get.

Laura, 3 months ago

I have brown & my ex has blue.
We have 3 daughters- 1-blue eyed, 1-brown, 1-green

Michelle, 3 months ago

The chart doesn't display which recessive genes the parents have, which is why there are quite a few anomalies. For the blue + brown eyed parents, the 50%/50% would indicate that the parent with brown eyes had a recessive trait for blue eyes, instead of green. If both had a recessive trait for green eyes, it would end up being something like 50% brown, 25% blue, 25% green, depending on how recessive green-eyed traits actually are.

Wes, 3 months ago

I guess this chart is somewhat true. My dad has brown eyes and my mom has green. There are 6 kids in our family and 2 have brown, 3 have blue and one has green. My grandma has the bright blue eyes, but I was just surprised that she passed that down to 3 of my brothers because neither one of my parents have ever had blue.

Julie, 3 months ago

Okay. Here is another one. My husband and I have brown eyes. So do all of our parents. Also all our sibling have brown eyes. Some almost black. My husband and I have 2 kids. The boy has blue-green eyes. The girl has hazel eyes. Very beautiful shiny, starry, and big eyes. So how did those eyes come from us??

Beatriz, 3 months ago

I'm caucasian. My Dad's eyes are gray and my mom's are medium-dark brown. I am the oldest of their 4 kids and have green eyes. #2 has blue eyes and the 3rd and 4th kids have brown. #3 has almost black eyes and #4 has medium brown like mom. Maternal Grandparents all had brown. Paternal side was a mix of brown and blue (more brown eyes than blue). There is no Gray/Brown mix so I didn't know what catagory to place my dad in. I went with blue/brown since they are closer to that than green. There is no chance of me having green eyes so what gives??

Jennie, 3 months ago

The chart says that a brown eyed parent and a green eyed parent will have 50% of having a brown eyed parent. My mom has green eyes and my dad has brown eyes. My siblings and I all have green eyes.

angel, 3 months ago

I found out that everyone with blue eyes is related to each other. It's a genetic mutation of the eye, and everyone who has blue eyes shares a common ancestor from about 6,000 - 10,000 years ago. So I have blue eyes, so if someone else out there has blue eyes, I'm related to you! And both my parents had blue eyes too, and so does my sister. My girlfriend has green eyes, so if we have kids there is a 50 50 chance of it being blue or green? Well, that's not entirely true about the most common eye color of caucasians have blue eyes, most of them have brown, actually. Just saying. I love my eyes!

Clover Winfried, 3 months ago

...or perhaps the mailman was delivering more than just the mail

Simon, 3 months ago

hola! mi esposo y yo tenemos los ojos verdes! pero por parte de mi familia hay quienes tienen ojos negros, cafes, azules, verdes. y por parte de la familia de mi esposo, hay ojos cafes y azules! asi que cual seria la posibilidad de que nuestro hijo fuera de ojos verdes???

cindy, 3 months ago

My mother has brown eyes and my father has blue...mine turned out hazel and my husbands father has blue and his mother has brown and he also has hazel eyes. So what would be the percentage there since we would more than likely posess the same amount of genes for each eye color. We are expecting our son in less than 2 months and were curious about it.

Desiree, 3 months ago

I had blue eyes up until the age of 4, then they changed to green. Both of my parents and two of my sibling have hazel eyes and one of my siblings has brown eyes. My father has one sibling with blue eyes and two with brown, and all of my mother's siblings have brown eyes. My husband has brown eyes, his father and two siblings also have brown eyes but, his mother has hazel eyes and her siblings all have light blue eyes. Some couples i know both have brown eyes and their children come out with blue, but then again i know a few other couples that they both have blue or green eyes and their children come out with brown. These charts are just useless. I really think that there is no way of predicting your future baby's eye color, though i wish there were an accurate way.

Dina, 3 months ago

You gotta think of it like cards. Brown trumps green, green trumps blue. So someone with blue eyes inherited a blue-eyed gene from both of there parents, so therefore if 2 blue-eyed ppl have a baby then yes, there is a VERY good chance the baby will have blue eyes.

Rolanda, 3 months ago

My Maternal Grandparents both have blue eyes and all 4 of their kids ended up with dark brown eyes - according to your chart this is impossible?

Vanesa, 3 months ago

Give the author a break.. Even the best geneticists don't know the science of eye color genes and there really is not exact science to predicting eye color, as of yet. There are variables and genes that have not been discovered. Don't get mad at the author for posting the information which is the best attempt for figuring out the generics of eye color in caucasian populations. All eye colors are pretty and some don't make sense. They can't expalin everything....

Jen, 3 months ago

both my parents have brown eyes I have brown eyes, my siblings have brown eyes, my husband has blue eyes both his parents have green eyes, one of my siblings has blue eyes and one has green eyes. Our first child has brown eyes, will our second have brown also??

katt, 3 months ago

RE: "Even the the best geneticists don't know the science of eye color genes...There are variables and genes that have not been discovered."

Wow, I guess someone skipped a lot of classes. Genetics and heredity are actually quite well understood, if poorly explained here. You might also want to look into a little thing called the human genome project.

And all eye colors aren't pretty either.

Paul, 3 months ago

Hi. I have gone to a few different sites about eye color and they all seem to say different things? I really think eye color is just a matter of chance.
My mother has light brown eyes and my father has hazel. My older brother has light brown eyes and my younger brother has hazel. I have dark brown eyes.
My husbands parents both have blue eyes his younger brother has blue eyes and his sister I think has blueish green eyes. My husband has blue eyes as well but sometimes they look green.
Our son is 6 months old and his eyes are a dark but slightly light blue right now. They always seem to be looking darker or almost lavender. It's so interesting to watch as they change or seem to change but then look like they aren't changing at all.

whitney, 3 months ago

Come on people! The chart says SIMPLE and MOST likely. It isn't saying it is an absolute. If you finished primary school, you would know that statistics are just averages. The chart is just a reference point. Stop trying to be unique.

Amanda, 2 months ago

No one's explained how the mulatto offspring (one brown eyed African-American parent & one Caucasian parent) sometimes have completely blue eyes. My ex-BF had blue eyes, his mother was white & his father African-American. A few of my online friends who are brown eyed African-Americans had blue eyed children with a Caucasian partner. Plus, the African-American/brown eyed actor Cuba Gooding Jr. young daughter by a Caucasian has blue eyes, his hair though. But bright blue eyes. You could look up the picture on the "celebrity baby blog" and see.

Nat, 2 months ago

Doing a mendalin cross WWxww would yield children of all dominant Ww gene - however they would be carriers Wwxww or ww could reveal a recessive gene child such a blue eyed child. This is a simplification. For eye color one gene does not control your inheritance. Two+ genes on one chromosome or two+genes on different chroms delineate eye colour...in general two blue eyed individuals are most likely to give birth to a blue eyed offspring - blue is ressive, however since brown is dominant an individual with brown eyses may be a blue, green, hazel carrier when combined with partner may give unique eye colour. Genetics is a multifacaeted topic with definate truths and maybes, don't alway be looking for the other in the woodpile. However in general blue+blue yields blue, brown plus brown could be anything and green plus green means your child is probable going to have some mighty pretty eyes.

T , 2 months ago

I was born with blues eyes, and all through out my primary school years they stayed that way right up to I was about 11 when they started to turn hazel, I have another theory on the color change I started wearing glasses when I was 10 and have over the last 14 years had my lenses strangthened 4 times. I think it is because my sight is becoming worse as i get older My eyes are now fully green and have been since i was mid teens.

Ps- I also have a son and his fathers eyes are blue and our son has blue eyes. Kelly

Kelly O, 2 months ago

interesting about Venesa's blue-eyed grandparents having 4 brown-eyed children. Both my parents have blue-grey eyes and myself and younger brother have dark brown eyes - we suspect our brown-eyed paternal uncle!

sandra, 2 months ago

I was wondering what eye color I have I've been told brown,green,hazel, and Cats eye.Please someone help me figure this out. http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r3/sweetsbox22/DSC03456_edited.jpg

Shannon, 2 months ago

shannon,
your eyes are almost the same as mine, i'd say green/brown, mine have less brown. but yes yours are very catlike.
so go with what you like, but i think green/brown.

Sean, 2 months ago

My mum has green eyes and my dad has blue eyes they have five kids including me. Based on the chart at least two should have green eyes. This isn't so. All four of my siblings have blue eyes and so do i.

The blue and brown percentage works in my family though. My uncle has blue eyes (red hair) and his girlfriend has brown (brown hair). Both my cousins have red hair but my uncles son has brown eyes and my uncles daughter has blue eyes.

So the above statement also makes the hair colour 'fact' false, my uncles and cousin's hair are quite light.

My father had blonde hair as a child and my mother had brown hair as a child. Now light brown and almost black. But all five of my parents children were born with blonde hair and had blonde hair until we were at least 8, when it started to get darker. Infact my sister and brother still have blonde hair. Even though they're 19 and 16.

My aunt has blue eyes and my uncle has brown eyes. Their eldest two children have brown eyes and their youngest has green eyes.

My nan and grandad had blue eyes and out of 8 children, 1 had green eyes (my mum)

Nicola , 2 months ago

This article is BULLCRAP. Genetics (even with just eyes) are not that predictable. One has to consider the genetics of the parents and grandparents of the child, not just the parents, because those genes don't just magically disappear. The writer seriously lack research in this-- and that's obvious. ANyone can look at their own families and see inconsistancies with this study.

My dad has blue eyes, my has brown. My sister got green eyes (supposedly impossible by this article, although more realistic articles will argue that you have about a 15% chance of having a green eyed baby if one parent has blue and the other brown eyes-- and higher I believe if you have a sibling with green eyes), 5 of us got brown eyes and my youngest brother got yellow/grey eyes (they're really something else. . . !)

My green eyed sister married a green eyed man; both thier kids have blue eyes (which according to this thing is not so likely).

besides, yellow and grey eyes aren't even covered here. . . nor are hazel.

Ariel, 2 months ago

My father has black eyes and my mother blue. I have a green. The probability for this is 0%?!....

Aleksandra, 2 months ago

This chart is inaccurate because my friend's mother has blue eyes and her father brown eyes and she has the most beautiful green eyes. Also, my grandparents both have blue eyes but one of their sons has brown eyes. Also, those grandparents had two daughters and both of them are green eyed which according to this chart is very unlikely!

Katherine, 2 months ago

can a father with dark brown eyes and a mother with medium green eyes have a child with dark blue eyes?

angie, 2 months ago

I think people have to remember that human genetics is not perfect yet. My family considers ourselves to be African American but, my uncle has blue eyes, my father has grey and one of my cousins has sandy blond hair. People are very complex and this chart does not account for that.

Dominica, 2 months ago

My dad has light blue eyes and mom has brown eyes her parents had one blue eyes and the other brown eyes. I have green but, when I was born I had blue eyes until I was 2 years old. My husband has brown eyes and my baby had grey Im just waiting to see what the color will be?

wanda, 2 months ago

I have green eyes, my dad has blue eyes, and mom has brown eyes the chart show's o% for that.

krystina, 2 months ago

My wife's parents both have blue eyes, my parents both have brown eyes. Her brother has blue eyes, she has hazel; which is 1% chance of occuring. My daughter has brown, and my son has blue. According to the predictors, my wife shouldn't have the color of eyes she does, and my son shouldn't have blue eyes. I'll echo a previous comment that prediction is probability and probabability is the likelyhood of an event occuring. Nothing is exact.

This is the predictor I used http://museum.thetech.org/ugenetics/eyeCalc/eyecalculator.html

Good discussion though:)

Ed, 2 months ago

"Wow, I guess someone skipped a lot of classes. Genetics and heredity are actually quite well understood, if poorly explained here. You might also want to look into a little thing called the human genome project.

And all eye colors aren't pretty either."

No Paul, I think YOU are the one who hasn't had many science classes. Science is constantly changing, and genetics is one part of it that is still being heavily researched because it is NOT "well understood". Despite the fact that the human genome has been/is being figured out, no one knows what all those sequences of nucleotides mean. Eye color is just one area of genetics that still has researchers stumped (if it didn't, a simple google search would give you the answer to this question). They know of three genes that definitely HELP determine eye color, but they are sure that there are even more factors that control it.

Sara, 2 months ago

It seems pretty correct to me for my family situation.

Father - Green Eyes
Mother - Pale Blue eyes
Me - Green eyes with a blue rim
Sister- Green eyes
Sister- Bright blue eyes

My grandparents on both sides had either blue or green eyes. The only family members (cousins) that have brown eyes are those with a parent from outside our bloodline with brown eyes.

Lisa, 2 months ago

i have three kids my 2 oldest has dark brown eyes and my youngest who is 4 months old has green eyes. my husband and i both have dark brown eyes but his mom, grandmother,and uncle has green eyes so im assuming my youngest gets her eyes from them. The DR. said she has up until 6 months to be a definite color

love, about 1 month ago

I have brown eyes and my e had green. Both my kids have blue eyes.

sylvia , about 1 month ago

Everyone needs to take into consideration the fact that this is a MOST LIKELY scenario. As a few have already pointed out, this assumes that the parents are HETEROZYGOUS (meaning, they don't have two genes for the same color). Since the gene for the color that is not shown (ie: the color that is recessive and that is masked by the dominant gene [the color shown]), there are innumerable possibilities. Also, since hazel and grey are not shown, there are still more possibilities. If you don't 'fit' the profile... its ok! It doesn't mean the key is necessarily wrong, however. Just keep an open mind and know that nature always has exceptions to rules!

Sarah, about 1 month ago

I must say this is a contridiction i am british born from 2 jamacian parents both with light brown eyes and my partner is from a white mother with blue eyes and mixed race farther with brown eyes, i have brown eyes he has greenish eyes my babies eyes are bright blue which is contrasting to there skin colour

zoe, about 1 month ago

I'M A MIRACLE

From the chart, I should have never had green eyes :-O

Danielle, about 1 month ago

Wow - amazing how much emotion this simple article generates. Remember, the author states "simple baby eye color prediction chart based on heterozygous (the most likely) odds." Nothing says this chart is absolute, it's a very simple chart, so calm down everyone! But, yes, some of you are going to have to admit that there have been extracurricular activities among some of your ancestry that was not recorded.

Kay, about 1 month ago

i dont believe in this chart,my parents have blue n brown eyes n i have green eyes,my partner has brown n our son has blue eyes which are getting lighter....
explain that????

sabrina.., about 1 month ago

After reading this article I figured I should leave another comment about having green eye's .. like majority of the comments left on here.
One of my parents has blue eye's, and the other has dark brown and I have light green eye's. I guess its not inpossible.

Marina M, about 1 month ago

Well, My mother had green eyes and all 4 including me and my sisters all have green eyes. Our father's eyes are brown. What are the chances of that??

Theresa D, about 1 month ago

How is this possible?My son has blue eyes my daughter green i have brown eyes so do both of my parents were mexican.my wife has blue eyes and her mom has blue eyes and her dad green.How is this possible?

Nick, about 1 month ago

i have blue eyes, my husband has brown. our daughter (yes, i'm sure she's his!) has green eyes, which this article says is impossible!

a, about 1 month ago

This chart seems a little bit indefinite, however I've been to this website with a more accurate "eye color prediction". It asks for your parents eye color, your spouse's parents eye color, your eye color, and your spouse's eye color. Then it calculates for the possible color of your child's eyes. (note: they ask for the your parents & spouse's parents eye color for a better background of the child's genotype). I hope it helps:
http://museum.thetech.org/ugenetics/eyeCalc/eyecalculator.html

๑۩۞۩๑, about 1 month ago

This chart is wrong. My father has blue eyes and my mother has brown eyes. I have green eyes. This chart needs to be fixed.

T, about 1 month ago

your purported fatherhas blue eyes

Chris, about 1 month ago

"Wow, I guess someone skipped a lot of classes. Genetics and heredity are actually quite well understood, if poorly explained here. You might also want to look into a little thing called the human genome project.

And all eye colors aren't pretty either."
Just so you know Paul, I have a degree in Physical Anthropology and I have had plenty of genetics classes. Actually, Genetics were a big part of my major and I did go to class. You should probably do a little research yourself and make look at the research done by the human genome project were they state they are "starting to figure out human genetics"

Jen, about 1 month ago

My dad has strawberry blonde hair with blue eyes and my mom has dark brown hair with blue eyes. My sister and I both came out with very green eyes and a splotch of brown in my right eye, and splotch of brown in her left eye. And she is 9 years older than me. I guess we would both be considered in that very rare to no chance of happening eye color situation.

Shawna, 27 days ago

my ex had brown eyes + his mum has green, dad blue..
?
so he has a zero percent chance of having brown eyes?
does anyone know where i can do this in more detail 'cause a link off here says he cant have brown eyes?
+ he looks like his dad so i doubt there's been any funny business !

tal, 21 days ago

I have a question for you genetics experts out there. My mother has olive skin, dark hair and bright green eyes. My Dad is pale with almost white blonde hair and one blue eye and one brown My perants had 8 children, all a wild array of colours including me and my twin sister. We are identical in every why with very pale skin and long black hair and with sunglasses on even my perants and siblings have difficulty telling us apart but without the sunglasses on my sister has bright green eyes like my mother and I have one grey eye and one bright green one. I wear contacts to cover it up as very embarrasing. Whats the deal with that?

Lanna, 21 days ago

I think this chart is true. Both of my parents have green eyes and my sister and I also have green eyes.

Chanel, 18 days ago

I don't really agree with this chart. It says someone with blue eyes and brown eyes has a 0% chance of having a green-eyed baby. My mom has brown eyes and my dad has blue, and my eyes are green as can be.

Kristen, 17 days ago

this chart is accurate. if a man and wife both have blue eyes, and, she has a baby with brown eyes... he needs to get an attorney.

mark, 16 days ago

Wow, I beat the odds on this one. My parents both have brown and I ended up with VERY blue eyes!

Kris, 12 days ago

This chart is completely farce...I have Grey eyes as my husband has brown eyes...our son has green eyes...explain that?

Toni, 11 days ago

Both my parents have brown eyes. My mom's eyes re dark brown and my dad who's father was mulatto (dad white, mother African American) has light brown eyes. I have green eyes. Out of 6 siblings, I am the only one who is light skinned and has green eyes. sort of made me stand out in the family line up. I've married a man who is African American, mother mulatto, German-African American, and he has blue-grey eyes. Needless to say, my three daughters have the most mixed up and brilliant blue grey green eyes you ever saw.

Janice, 9 days ago

Both my husband and i have brown eyes but on my side there are blue eyes i cant comment on my husbands side . we have a 7 month old baby boy and his eyes seem to change colour depending on what he is wearing from grey,blue,brown and green. i asked the doctor what colour his eyes were and she said grey brown.

nicola, 8 days ago

My dad has dark brown eyes and my mom has almost black eyes. My left eye is hazel, more of a green color, and my right eye is brown?!?

Natasha, 4 days ago

all four of my grandparents have blue eyes and both of my parents have blue eyes also me and my brother have blue eyes too BUT 3 out of the 4 grandparents of my PARTNER has BROWN eyes and his mother and father both posess brown eyes too , they are both very dark in skin. What color eyes do you think my baby will have?

Lori S, 3 days ago