What Does It Mean If You Have Dark Brown Eyes?

What Does It Mean If You Have Dark Brown Eyes
People with dark brown eyes have more melanin on the back layer of their iris, and eyes with very little (or no) melanin on the front layer of the iris appear more blue, green, or even hazel. Usually eye color is determined by genetic traits, which are handed down from your parents.

Is it good to have dark brown eyes?

Do Different Eye Colors Have Different Benefits? – Because of the sometimes simplified way concepts like genetics and Darwinism are taught, we might reasonably assume there is a survival-based reason various eye colors developed and survived in various human populations.

Reduced risk of macular degeneration Lower melanoma risk

Lighter eyes may have some advantages too, but they are also linked to certain health and addiction risks. People with lighter eyes may have the following:

A lower chance of developing vitiligo A higher risk of abusing alcohol Greater light sensitivity, especially among people with albinism

Notably, the potential differences in health impacts between different eye colors are almost certainly slight. The reason different eye colors have managed to survive is largely because they didn’t significantly impact the survivability of the early humans who developed them.

Do brown eyes mean anything?

They’re touted as being the window to the soul, but a new study says your eyes might provide a look into your personality, too. The study from the University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales, published in Current Psychology, links a person’s eye color with how agreeable that person is.

  • Researchers found that those with lighter-colored (blue and green) eyes tended to be less agreeable and more competitive than their brown-eyed peers.
  • Blue and green eyes were also linked to being egocentric and skeptical of others while those with brown eyes were seen as more altruistic, sympathetic and willing to help others.

The explanation for eye color serving as a benchmark for agreeableness could be cultural. “Brown eyes are more common, so it could be that there is a sense of ‘belonging’ or fitting in with those who have dark eyes,” Ramani Durvasula, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist, professor of psychology and neuropsychological researcher.

  • Brown eyes may also be more likely to come from cultures where a trait like agreeableness is more culturally and societally valued than in blue-eyed cultures.” “Blue eyes may seem cooler while brown eyes perhaps seem warmer.
  • That can then be manifested by stereotypes about competition, agreeableness, etc.,” adds Durvasula.

Agreeableness isn’t the only personality trait connected to eye color. A recent survey conducted by CyberPulse, a division of Impulse Research Corporation in Los Angeles uncovered this colorful research. Brown Eyes Intelligence was the number one trait associated with brown, the most common eye color in the U.S., by 34 percent of respondents.

  1. Being trustworthy was second (16 percent said this) and kind (13 percent) came in as the third most likely trait of those with brown eyes.
  2. Other research has said brown eyed people have stronger eye contact skills, with researchers speculating this could be because they don’t anticipate being looked at as much as blue eyed people.
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Blue Eyes The most common characteristic thought to be associated with blue-eyed individuals: exuding sweetness by (42 percent), with being sexy (21 percent) and kind (10 percent) rounding out the top three. Interestingly, in contrast to brown eyes, blue eyes were not associated with intelligence as only 7 percent of respondents thought of blue-eyed people as intelligent.

  1. Green Eyes Twenty-nine percent of participants associated green eyes with sexiness, the top characteristic thought to be related to this color.
  2. Green-eyes was also thought of as creative (25 percent) and a little devious (20 percent).
  3. Being trustworthy and shy was also linked to green-eyed people.
  4. No matter their color, a majority of people (60 percent) wished they could change their own hue.

The most wished for color? Green, with 27 percent of respondents saying they’d switch to green eyes if given the chance. Coming in at a close second was amethyst while 18 percent expressed the desire to have blue eyes. “While it’s not often studied, the link between eye color and personality is very interesting,” says Durvasula.

Where do dark brown eyes come from?

Is eye color determined by genetics? A person’s eye color results from pigmentation of a structure called the iris, which surrounds the small black hole in the center of the eye (the pupil) and helps control how much light can enter the eye. The color of the iris ranges on a continuum from very light blue to dark brown.

  1. Most of the time eye color is categorized as blue, green/hazel, or brown.
  2. Brown is the most frequent eye color worldwide.
  3. Eye color is determined by variations in a person’s genes.
  4. Most of the genes associated with eye color are involved in the production, transport, or storage of a pigment called melanin.

Eye color is directly related to the amount of melanin in the front layers of the iris. People with brown eyes have a large amount of melanin in the iris, while people with blue eyes have much less of this pigment. A particular region on plays a major role in eye color.

  1. Within this region, there are two genes located very close together: and HERC2,
  2. The protein produced from the OCA2 gene, known as the P protein, is involved in the maturation of melanosomes, which are cellular structures that produce and store melanin.
  3. The P protein therefore plays a crucial role in the amount and quality of melanin that is present in the iris.
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Several common variations (polymorphisms) in the OCA2 gene reduce the amount of functional P protein that is produced. Less P protein means that less melanin is present in the iris, leading to blue eyes instead of brown in people with a polymorphism in this gene.

A region of the nearby HERC2 gene known as intron 86 contains a segment of DNA that controls the activity (expression) of the OCA2 gene, turning it on or off as needed. At least one polymorphism in this area of the HERC2 gene has been shown to reduce the expression of OCA2 and decrease P protein production, leading to less melanin in the iris and lighter-colored eyes.

Several other genes play smaller roles in determining eye color. Some of these genes are also involved in skin and hair coloring. Genes with reported roles in eye color include ASIP, IRF4, SLC24A4, SLC24A5,, TPCN2,, and, The effects of these genes likely combine with those of OCA2 and HERC2 to produce a continuum of eye colors in different people.

Researchers used to think that eye color was determined by a single gene and followed a simple inheritance pattern in which brown eyes were dominant to blue eyes. Under this model, it was believed that parents who both had blue eyes could not have a child with brown eyes. However, later studies showed that this model was too simplistic.

Although it is uncommon, parents with blue eyes can have children with brown eyes. The inheritance of eye color is more complex than originally suspected because multiple genes are involved. While a child’s eye color can often be predicted by the eye colors of his or her parents and other relatives, genetic variations sometimes produce unexpected results.

Several disorders that affect eye color have been described. is characterized by severely reduced pigmentation of the iris, which causes very light-colored eyes and significant problems with vision. Another condition called affects the pigmentation of the skin and hair in addition to the eyes. Affected individuals tend to have very light-colored irises, fair skin, and white or light-colored hair.

Both ocular albinism and oculocutaneous albinism result from mutations in genes involved in the production and storage of melanin. Another condition called heterochromia is characterized by different-colored eyes in the same individual. Heterochromia can be caused by genetic changes or by a problem during eye development, or it can be acquired as a result of a disease or injury to the eye. Sturm RA, Duffy DL, Zhao ZZ, Leite FP, Stark MS, Hayward NK, Martin NG, Montgomery GW. A single SNP in an evolutionary conserved region within intron 86 of the HERC2 gene determines human blue-brown eye color. Am J Hum Genet.2008 Feb;82(2):424-31. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.11.005.

Epub 2008 Jan 24. PubMed:, Free full-text available from PubMed Central:, Sturm RA, Larsson M. Genetics of human iris colour and patterns. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res.2009 Oct;22(5):544-62. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-148X.2009.00606.x. Epub 2009 Jul 8. Review. PubMed:, White D, Rabago-Smith M. Genotype-phenotype associations and human eye color.

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J Hum Genet.2011 Jan;56(1):5-7. doi: 10.1038/jhg.2010.126. Epub 2010 Oct 14. Review. PubMed: : Is eye color determined by genetics?

What percent has dark brown eyes?

The most common – It probably comes as no surprise that the most common eye color around the world is brown. A whopping 55 to 79 percent of the worldwide population has brown eyes! In fact, about 10,000 years ago, researchers believe we all had brown eyes.

Do black colored eyes exist?

Brown eyes – If you have brown eyes, you have the most common eye color found in humans. They may not be rare, but you can take pride in knowing you’re sporting the “original” eye color — the same one early humans in modern-day Africa had, hundreds of thousands of years ago.

To this day, brown eyes are overwhelmingly dominant in Africa and Asia. Forty-five percent of Americans, and as many as 79% of people worldwide, have some variation of brown eyes. Colors can range from a lighter chestnut to darker hues that almost seem to blend in with the pupil. While some people may appear to have irises that are black, they don’t technically exist.

People with black-colored eyes instead have very dark brown eyes that are almost indistinguishable from the pupil. In fact, brown eyes are even the most common eye color in newborn babies. A common misconception is that most or all babies are born with blue eyes, when in reality, “blue” should be substituted with “brown.” The Newborn Eye Screening Test (NEST) study found that 63% of babies were born with brown eyes, while only 21% were born with blue eyes.

Is brown eye common?

What is the most common eye color? – About 10,000 years ago, everyone in the world had brown eyes. Scientists believe that the first blue-eyed person had a genetic mutation that caused the body to produce less melanin. Today, about half of the people in the United States have brown eyes.

Amber, which some people describe as copper, gold or very light brown. Blue or gray, which occurs when someone has no pigment (melanin) in the front layer of the iris. Around 1 in 4 people in the U.S. have blue eyes. Brown, which is the most common eye color in the world. Green, which is the least common eye color. Only 9% of people in the United States have green eyes. Hazel, a combination of brown and green. Hazel eyes may also have flecks or spots of green or brown. In the U.S., about 18% of people have hazel eyes.