 Print this page 
Are you tired of the other kids at Summer Color Camp laughing at you because you thought chartreuse was a shade of pink? Still having nightmares about the time you called a Salmon colored dress Mauve? With our help you’ll never call Azure, Aquamarine again and will be name dropping colors like they’re hot potatoes.
Our guide isn’t an exact science, depending on our monitor color calibration, brightness and even how good our eyes are… we all see a slightly different color. So, we took the color names that are used most often and best guessed the appropriate colors based on web standards and common usage.
Ivory
 |
HEX: #FFFFF0
RGB: 255, 255, 240
CMYK: 1, 0, 6, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Ivory
|
|
Beige
 |
HEX: #F5F5DC
RGB: 245, 245, 220
CMYK: 1, 0, 24, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Beige
|
Wheat
 |
HEX: #F5DEB3
RGB: 245, 222, 179
CMYK: 4, 11, 32, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Wheat
|
|
Tan
 |
HEX: #D2B48C
RGB: 210, 180, 140
CMYK: 18, 28, 48, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Tan
|
Khaki
 |
HEX: #C3B091
RGB: 195, 176, 145
CMYK: 25, 28, 45, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Khaki
|
|
Silver
 |
HEX: #C0C0C0
RGB: 192, 192, 192
CMYK: 25, 20, 20, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Silver
|
Gray
 |
HEX: #808080
RGB: 128, 128, 128
CMYK: 52, 43, 43, 8 |
Find Color Palettes Using Gray
|
|
Charcoal
 |
HEX: #464646
RGB: 70, 70, 70
CMYK: 67, 60, 58, 42 |
Find Color Palettes Using Charcoal
|
Navy Blue
 |
HEX: #000080
RGB: 0, 0, 128
CMYK: 100, 98, 14, 17 |
Find Color Palettes Using Navy Blue
|
|
Royal Blue
 |
HEX: #084C9E
RGB: 8, 76, 158
CMYK: 100, 80, 4, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Royal Blue
|
Medium Blue
 |
HEX: #0000CD
RGB: 0, 0, 205
CMYK: 52, 43, 43, 8 |
Find Color Palettes Using Medium Blue
|
|
Azure
 |
HEX: #007FFF
RGB: 0, 127, 255
CMYK: 77, 51, 0, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Azure
|
Cyan
 |
HEX: #00FFFF
RGB: 0, 255, 255
CMYK: 52, 0, 13, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Cyan
|
|
Aquamarine
 |
HEX: #7FFFD4
RGB: 127, 255, 212
CMYK: 40, 0, 30, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Aquamarine
|
Teal
 |
HEX: #008080
RGB: 0, 128, 128
CMYK: 86, 31, 49, 8 |
Find Color Palettes Using Teal
|
|
Forest Green
 |
HEX: #228B22
RGB: 34, 139, 34
CMYK: 47, 0, 100, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Forest Green
|
Olive
 |
HEX: #808000
RGB: 128, 128, 0
CMYK: 30, 0, 100, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Olive
|
|
Chartreuse
 |
HEX: #7FFF00
RGB: 127, 255, 0
CMYK: 47, 0, 100, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Chartreuse
|
Lime
 |
HEX: #BFFF00
RGB: 191, 255, 0
CMYK: 30, 0, 100, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Lime
|
|
Golden
 |
HEX: #FFD700
RGB: 255, 215, 0
CMYK: 1, 13, 100, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Golden
|
Goldenrod
 |
HEX: #DAA520
RGB: 218, 165, 32
CMYK: 15, 35, 100, 1 |
Find Color Palettes Using Goldenrod
|
|
Coral
 |
HEX: #FF7F50
RGB: 255, 127, 80
CMYK: 0, 63, 72, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Coral
|
Salmon
 |
HEX: #FA8072
RGB: 250, 128, 114
CMYK: 0, 63, 49, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Salmon
|
|
Hot Pink
 |
HEX: #FC0FC0
RGB: 252, 15, 192
CMYK: 10, 87, 0, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Hot Pink
|
Fuchsia
 |
HEX: #FF77FF
RGB: 255, 119, 255
CMYK: 16, 57, 0, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Fuschia
|
|
Puce
 |
HEX: #CC8899
RGB: 204, 136, 153
CMYK: 19, 54, 25, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Puce
|
Mauve
 |
HEX: #E0B0FF
RGB: 224, 176, 255
CMYK: 27, 41, 0, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Mauve
|
|
Lavender
 |
HEX: #B57EDC
RGB: 181, 126, 220
CMYK: 35, 55, 0, 0 |
Find Color Palettes Using Lavender
|
Plum
 |
HEX: #843179
RGB: 132, 49, 121
CMYK: 55, 95, 20, 4 |
Find Color Palettes Using Plum
|
|
Indigo
 |
HEX: #4B0082
RGB: 75, 0, 130
CMYK: 86, 100, 11, 8 |
Find Color Palettes Using Indigo
|
Maroon
 |
HEX: #800000
RGB: 128, 0, 0
CMYK: 29, 100, 100, 38 |
Find Color Palettes Using Maroon
|
|
Crimson
 |
HEX: #DC143C
RGB: 220, 20, 60
CMYK: 7, 100, 78, 1 |
Find Color Palettes Using Crimson
|
Do You Agree or Disagree?
The above colors are based on common use in web standards… Do you think our Salmon is a bit too Peach? Maybe our Forest Green is a bit too Grass? Show us your suggestions for commonly used color names.
24 July, 2007 52 
 Did you enjoy our post? Get our blog feed by Email or RSS for daily updates.
 Showing 1 - 30 of 34 Comments
 
lizcrimso…24 Jul, 2007 @ 7:33 PM
i think the chartreuse is too limey. mauve is too purpley - it needs to be browned down a bit. (and lavender is spelled with an e...)
my thoughts:
or this
and
or this one
 
COLOURlov…24 Jul, 2007 @ 7:42 PM
P.S. For those who are now ready to be "name dropping colors like they’re hot potatoes" and were wondering what a Hot Potato's colors would look like:
 
lizcrimso…24 Jul, 2007 @ 7:54 PM
the puce above seems more the colour of the mauve i chose. here's my version of puce. its supposed to be the colour of a flea...
from wikipedia, "The colour puce is usually defined with adjectives such as "dark", "deep", "intense" and even "brilliant". 
retsof24 Jul, 2007 @ 7:57 PM
What do you mean, "common"? Is this the kind of website where you should be asking that? After all, we've got about 100 colors in here named for "slime".
COLOURlov…24 Jul, 2007 @ 8:13 PM
From the Digg comments "I was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this evening and came across the color "heliotrope". It wasn't on this list, but Wikipedia had it, of course. They also noted the "heliotrope" reference in the book."
 
liddle_r24 Jul, 2007 @ 8:53 PM
Well, I like magenta and it isn't in the list above so am adding it!
COLOURlov…24 Jul, 2007 @ 8:57 PM
Also... as noticed the Cyan listed above is the Web Standard... True Cyan is:
 
manekinek…24 Jul, 2007 @ 9:51 PM
great post!
One weird thing I read the other day is that some colors cannot exist on computer screens because of limits to the technology...
color limit article
wayfinder24 Jul, 2007 @ 11:36 PM
I think you got some details wrong: Golden - this looks more like a peach actually. Gold is far less saturated. Hot Pink has too much blue, pink should always have MORE red than blue in it. And you misspelled Fuchsia. 
greeblemo…25 Jul, 2007 @ 9:00 AM
Great post! Recently was turned on to the site and love it.
COLOURlov…25 Jul, 2007 @ 9:13 AM
@restof & others: The colors chosen for this post were ones that have commonly associated HEX values attached to them... I totally agree that the colors connected to the names don't always match up, but what we wanted to do was build a little conversation about the common names of colors and to have a little fun seeing what others thought...
I honestly think a Crimson Red is a bit less pink, sort of like:
 
theirongi…25 Jul, 2007 @ 9:19 AM
The Cyan is way too bright for print. Also, your CMYK values for Charcoal are the same as Silver. You might want to check those.
shellab25 Jul, 2007 @ 10:54 AM
I think Chartreuse is more like:
COLOURlov…25 Jul, 2007 @ 10:58 AM
@manekineko: Well, yes... that is where we got a lot of the "standard" HEX values for the post from... but as you can see, not everyone agrees ;)
retsof25 Jul, 2007 @ 1:24 PM
There is a set of "standard" web color names. HOWEVER, many gripe that they are very arbitrary in range and distribution. They get around that by allowing you to define any RGB hex as a color. Yes, very bright yellow and things like that are out of the RGB gamut which is triangle shaped. Too bad. We've got what we've got for the moment.
lizcrimso…25 Jul, 2007 @ 8:19 PM
could it be that we all disagree partly because of our different monitors? i just had to replace mine and the new one is like night and day in difference from the old one. my colours are now soooooo much prettier, and i thought they were okay before.
i agree about the crimson, darius. i think crimson is a deeper colour. the one you chose is a good one.
i have heliotrope in my yard and keith's colour is very close, but mine are a bit darker.
i still think chartreuse should be yellower.
i like your magenta, liddle_r, but i think to be called magenta it should be pinker. something like this:
great discussion, by the way.
and what does ftw mean? tr67 wrote "puce ftw"
lizcrimso…26 Jul, 2007 @ 4:51 AM
thanks. i thought it was just wtf backwards...
liddle_r26 Jul, 2007 @ 6:58 AM
I agree with Darius about the Crimson. And the Chartreuse that shellab made looks more right to me than the one at the top.
But, I am sticking with my magenta! To me magneto looks too pink. So, it must just be a definition of what we think magenta is. I am sure my definition is coming from the crayola crayon box! Probably the root of all my color sense comes from there!
Very interesting for sure!
For me, the following is more of a forest green:
The one above seem more like a kelly green (albeit a dark kelly green).
liddle_r26 Jul, 2007 @ 9:17 AM
And just what color is ochre... I named a color that today but I don't think I was right. 
ruecian26 Jul, 2007 @ 8:00 PM
@liddle_r --
Ochre is sort of an orange-yellow, or, as restof has it, the colour of yams:
 
Linsomnia26 Jul, 2007 @ 11:04 PM
I've always thought puce to be a brownish purple. I know thereare other discriptions of this color but I like the deep dark purple/brown. I've made a few l palettes for puce. Here are a couple:
username27 Jul, 2007 @ 6:16 AM
http://www.bahamianflag.com/
Aquamarine 
dogleish28 Jul, 2007 @ 8:24 AM
Navy Blue and Charcoal aren't dark enough, and Crimson is too pink. IMHO. :)
lilytree29 Jul, 2007 @ 8:15 AM
I'm pretty sure this is referring to the names of colors you can put into html, without needing to use hex code. This is me saying that the font color is "forestgreen" Most amusing I think though are the names that are off the beaten track, like This is the color of "demon", while this is "fire" Of course, the names can display differently on different browsers, which is why it's better to use hex.
lizcrimso…30 Jul, 2007 @ 8:41 PM
liddle_r, my magenta (magneto is what my students call it) comes from the tempera paint we use in school, but also the process ink i used as a printer. that magenta may be a bit darker, but not as dark as yours. of course it could all be our monitors. i'm on a different computer now and it all looks very different. 
violetspr…2 Aug, 2007 @ 2:20 PM
i always thought mauve and Fuchsia had more red tones in them than blue tones  You must be logged in to post a comment.  18 Trackbacks So Far... Hooray!
| The Blog that Noone Reads » Blog Archive » Guys only know 8 colors 24 Jul, 2007 @ 11:32 PM
[...] the dudes: check out this link to add another 32 color names to your [...] | | ねっとdeよんだ » HTML中、名前で使える色リスト。 25 Jul, 2007 @ 12:09 AM
[...] Color + Design Blog / 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference by COLOURlovers [...] | | Nombres comunes de Colores con valores hexadecimales, RGB y CMYK 25 Jul, 2007 @ 2:42 AM
[...] 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference [...] | | ImAFish Extra » Blog Archive » 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference 25 Jul, 2007 @ 5:01 AM
[...] never call Azure, Aquamarine again and will be name dropping colors like they’re hot potatoes.read more | digg [...] | | Cloud » Blog Archive » Color + Design Blog / 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference by COLOURlovers 25 Jul, 2007 @ 11:18 AM
[...] 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference [...] | | links for 2007-07-25 « toonz 25 Jul, 2007 @ 3:25 PM
[...] Color + Design Blog / 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference by COLOURlovers (tags: color reference) [...] | | enthusiasm : archive » links for 2007-07-25 25 Jul, 2007 @ 3:29 PM
[...] Color + Design Blog / 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference by COLOURlovers (tags: webdesign reference colors) [...] | | links for 2007-07-26 « Simply… A User 25 Jul, 2007 @ 4:56 PM
[...] Color + Design Blog / 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference by COLOURlovers (tags: colors color colour design educational css inspiration graphics web webdesign reference **) [...] | | El Queso Magno » Blog Archive » links for 2007-07-26 26 Jul, 2007 @ 3:36 PM
[...] Color + Design Blog / 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference by COLOURlovers Lista de colores más comunes, con sus nombres y “códigos”, basados en “web standards and common usage” (tags: color Design Web_Design reference) [...] | | Perliukai #334 : nežinau.lt 27 Jul, 2007 @ 12:30 AM
[...] Ne kartą pasitaiko sutikti tekstuose įmantrius spalvų pavadinimus „mauve“, „chartreuse“, „maroon“. Žinote, kokios tai spalvos? ColourLovers turi nedidelę vaizdžią atmintinę. [...] | | John From Berkeley » links for 2007-07-28 27 Jul, 2007 @ 4:42 PM
[...] Color + Design Blog / 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference by COLOURlovers (tags: color design reference graphics) [...] | | Bookmarkables for 30 July 2007 : FocusMinded.com 30 Jul, 2007 @ 1:01 AM
[...] Lovers published 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference, a super nice visual display for picking common colors. Especially when a client wants something in [...] | | 32 common color names for easy reference 6 Sep, 2007 @ 3:44 AM
[...] has made it easier for guys like me to communicate about colour better, 32 common color names for easy reference! They all look kinda purple to [...] | | 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference « Design News 5 Oct, 2007 @ 1:07 AM
[...] read more | digg story [...] | | World Design O! » Blog Archive » 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference 25 Oct, 2007 @ 4:53 AM
[...] read more | digg story [...] | | stickyhorizons » 32+ Common Color Names for Easy Reference 25 Oct, 2007 @ 10:00 AM
[...] full story here [...] | | 90% Angel » common colors and their RGBs 14 Nov, 2007 @ 11:46 AM
[...] A useful reference [...] | | Colours, Colours, and even more Colours | Newbie Game Programmers 18 Jan, 2008 @ 9:03 AM
[...] couple of other posts from ColourLovers.com that I found usefull are : 32 Common Color Names for Easy Reference and Ultimate HTML Color Hex Code [...] |
|
 
Do you have something interesting and colorful you want to share with over 600,000 lovers per month? We'd love to have you as a guest author, so send us an email with your tips or what you'd like to write about. Send Us Your Ideas or Tips Browse Archives
Search Blog
 |
0