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Eye colour

(30 Posts)
Foxglove77 Fri 03-Mar-23 20:02:36

I have blue eyes and my husband has brown eyes. I assumed brown was predominant and our children would have brown eyes too. However our daughter has blue eyes like me and our son has green eyes. Apparently green eyes are rare. Our grand daughter has beautiful green eyes too. What's your experience?

Greenfinch Fri 03-Mar-23 20:08:24

Everyone in our extended family has blue eyes . The only one who had brown was my mother so brown was definitely not predominant there.

Katyj Fri 03-Mar-23 20:17:05

We both have blue eyes. Our first son has hazel eyes like my mum. Second son has blue. Apparently there’s only 1% chance of blue eyed parents having a child with different coloured eyes.

Blossoming Fri 03-Mar-23 20:25:29

As I recall if you inherit one brown eye gene from one parent and one blue eye gene from the other, you will have brown eyes but you could still pass that blue eye gene to your child. I know there’s probably more to it, but that’s the basic principle.

growstuff Fri 03-Mar-23 20:25:51

Eye colour is quite complicated:

www.johnoconnor.co.nz/eye-colour/

Hetty58 Fri 03-Mar-23 20:27:35

I have green eyes (rare worldwide - but not here in the UK) and their father had blue. Our four have - grey, hazel, amber and green!

growstuff Fri 03-Mar-23 20:30:36

Blossoming

As I recall if you inherit one brown eye gene from one parent and one blue eye gene from the other, you will have brown eyes but you could still pass that blue eye gene to your child. I know there’s probably more to it, but that’s the basic principle.

Yes, that's true. Brown is the dominant gene, so somebody with blue eyes doesn't have a brown gene. The child will have a blue gene and there's a 50/50 chance of passing it on.

However, if you look at the link I posted above, eye colour is more complicated than used to be thought.

Redrobin51 Fri 03-Mar-23 20:31:28

Both my parents were brown eyes but I have greenish gry like my grandfather. The two eye colours apart from grandad and me were blue or brown on both sides of the family. My husband wnd two if hus brothers had br8wn eyes like their mother and another had grey green eyes like their father.

growstuff Fri 03-Mar-23 20:35:17

Redrobin Your parents probably didn't have two brown genes. They had brown eyes because it's dominant, but they still had the non-brown gene, which it would appear has been passed on to you.

SachaMac Fri 03-Mar-23 20:39:32

I have brown eyes, my husband had blue, I also thought brown would dominate but all of our children have either blue or green eyes. My mum had brown and my dad had blue eyes so I guess I got the blue gene from him. My youngest daughter has very dark hair with green eyes. Three out of my 6 grandchildren have brown eyes.

Blossoming Fri 03-Mar-23 20:47:10

Thanks growstuff I knew there was a lot more involved but I can only remember the basics.

CanadianGran Fri 03-Mar-23 20:48:35

Mine are very dark brown, DH more of a rich brown, and all our children have brown. All my children have married blue-eyes, and DH's father was blue eyed, so we have some bluey grandkids.

growstuff Fri 03-Mar-23 20:52:02

SachaMac

I have brown eyes, my husband had blue, I also thought brown would dominate but all of our children have either blue or green eyes. My mum had brown and my dad had blue eyes so I guess I got the blue gene from him. My youngest daughter has very dark hair with green eyes. Three out of my 6 grandchildren have brown eyes.

That's because you probably have a blue gene and a brown gene. The brown gene dominates, which is why you have brown eyes, but you had a 50/50 chance of passing on either gene to your children.

MerylStreep Fri 03-Mar-23 20:53:42

I have green eyes. This makes sense of my Nigerian friends surprise when we met for the first time.

growstuff Fri 03-Mar-23 20:56:27

Blossoming

Thanks growstuff I knew there was a lot more involved but I can only remember the basics.

I only learnt the basics at school - I'm sure you remember we were told that eye colour is like Mendel's peas. It's now known it's more complicated. My mother had very dark brown eyes and my father had blue/grey eyes. It always puzzled me that my sisters and I all have hazel eyes, which is why I bothered to research it years ago.

seadragon Fri 03-Mar-23 21:26:40

I have blue eyes, DH has gorgeous brown eyes as have both our DS and DD. Eldest DGS has blue eyes like mine and his mother's. DGD has hazel eyes like her DD and my Sister.....!? Youngest DGS has huge brown eyes like his DM. The strange thing is his eyes were huge and blue for the first several months just like his DDad.....!

MiniMoon Fri 03-Mar-23 21:38:58

My mother had blue eyes, my father had brown eyes. Of we three girls one has brown eyes and the other two have hazel eyes.

BigBertha1 Fri 03-Mar-23 21:56:34

My father had hazel eyes my mother had pale blue eyes. I have deep blue eyes as have both my girls despite their fathers having hazel eyes. My grandson has the deepest blue eyes ever and I can never stop admiring them and him.

SueDonim Fri 03-Mar-23 21:57:13

We’re a family of mainly brown/hazel eyes. My DS’s have hazel eyes, my DD’s have dark brown eyes. Four of my GC have dark brown eyes, one has browny/hazel eyes and the sixth has a mix of blue with a ring surrounding the pupils being hazel! We have all peered in wonder at this blue-eyed baby. smile

Three of my four DC have various tones of red hair, like me. MIL had red hair, too. None of the GC has red hair.

henetha Fri 03-Mar-23 23:24:30

Mine are green. And one of my sons has really very green eyes.

Hetty58 Fri 03-Mar-23 23:31:13

SueDonim, never say never. My maternal GM and father had red hair. None in my generation or my kids (all blonde or brown) - and GC - until the seventh, who has the glorious red.

growstuff Fri 03-Mar-23 23:55:08

SueDonim

We’re a family of mainly brown/hazel eyes. My DS’s have hazel eyes, my DD’s have dark brown eyes. Four of my GC have dark brown eyes, one has browny/hazel eyes and the sixth has a mix of blue with a ring surrounding the pupils being hazel! We have all peered in wonder at this blue-eyed baby. smile

Three of my four DC have various tones of red hair, like me. MIL had red hair, too. None of the GC has red hair.

My daughter has red hair, although neither her father or I do. Both my ex-hubby and I must carry red hair genes, but it's recessive, so doesn't show up in us. Strangely, my daughter doesn't have blue eyes, which many red heads have. Her eyes are light brown, which is probably related to my hazel eyes.

SueDonim Sat 04-Mar-23 00:09:51

I’m not sure I’ll be acquiring any more GC! grin

All of the redheads in the family have brown eyes, apart from one with hazel, and skin that tans, which is also unusual for redheads.

dogsmother Sat 04-Mar-23 00:17:58

Bizarre isn’t it? I have three children one each brown, hazel and blue eyed. Two red heads. The hazel eyed has the nondescript mouse colour hair. I was looking for a cow brown eye coloured child like my father. But not to be.

Maggiemaybe Sat 04-Mar-23 00:27:02

I have green eyes, like my mum, DH’s are hazel. Our three have green, dark brown and hazel eyes, and only one of our five grandsons has green eyes.