14 Colors You Knew Existed, but Had No Idea Why They are Called This Way

Men and women are thought to perceive colors differently. For women, a lipstick exists in various shades of red – scarlet, magenta, crimson; for men, they all are just red.

There is an indefinite number of colors and their names are fairly subjective. Of course, there are some rules that define the name of each color shade on the spectrum, but typically the names are given conveniently. More than a dozen of weird color names do not make people think of a color at all, but there's a story behind each of them.

1. Military Olive

When it comes to the Military Olive, everything is pretty easy – the name comes from the military uniform which was designed first.

2. Daphne

Having heard Daphne, one can imagine a shade of pink or light yellow. In fact, Daphne is a soft shade of blue that is usually used in industrial projects.

3. Amaranth

It's something between the red and the pink, but it's hard to say which color it is closer to. Basically, is a very feminine color, since Amaranth is the name of a flower.

The following colors embody natural motives as well!

4. Bayou

The name of this blue and green color comes from a French and English term that denotes a large area of water usually in a flat, low-lying, marshy place.

5. Tortoise Shell

The color carries a name of a rare species of turtles.

6. Tender Shoots

A shoot is a part of a plant that comes up above the ground, so logically it evokes dark shades of brown or pale green. But no, it's bright green like Kermit the Frog from The Muppet Show.

7. Sassafras

The name of the shade was inspired by natural colors, particularly by Sassafras tree. The leaves of the tree change their color from green to dark red. But possibly, it's bark of the tree that gave name to the color.

8. Rhododendron

The name sounds like a kind of a dinosaur, but it's also a name of a tender flower that blooms on bushes. The blossom comes out in various berry colors, but the most recognizable one is in the picture above...

9. Coquelicot (French name for poppy)

In the sunshine a poppy is red, but if you get a better look, it looks orange, just as in the picture.

10. Campanula

Campanula is a name of the flower; the name of the color was inspired by the pale blue and purple blossom.

11. Labrador

Are you surprised that it's not a color of your favorite pet dog? Labrador is a shade of blue, its name comes from turquoise mineral labradorite which occurs in mafic igneous rocks.

12. Gloxinia

Gloxinia sounds like an element from scientific projects, but the name originates from a very beautiful flower.

13. Limoges

Limoges is a city in France where the tower and the dome of the railway station Gare des Bénédictins are painted in a pale blue color that was dubbed Limoges.

14. Marsala (color of the Year 2015)

This color was chosen as the Pantone color of the Year 2015. The color is full of warmth and modesty, it's considered a natural tone, and it should be this way, since Marsala is the Sicilian wine of rich color. Even if the label says that Marsala is white wine, as a matter of fact, it's deep brown like caramel.

If you know any other interesting names of colors and the history of their origin, share them with us in the comments, regardless if these are paints, pencils or Pantone, etc.