This baby eye color calculator will help predict what color eyes will your baby have.
Genetics is a fascinating thing. Every year, new developments are made in terms of understanding exactly what makes you you, and how your parent’s genetic building blocks combined to create your fabulous self. Your iris color is just one of those unique traits, and we are now understanding that predicting your baby’s eye color is much more complex than previously thought.
Bring on the Swag Box!
Each month, I give away a box filled with goodies to one newsletter subscriber!
What is eye color?
The colored ring surrounding the dark pupil of your baby's iris is determined by melanocytes, which are cells that secrete the two protein pigments called melanin and lipochrome. Eye color These pigments darken the iris and the more melanin your eyes have, the darker they will be – like dark blue or brown. The less melanin your eyes have, the lighter they will be – like blue or green. The more lipochrome your eyes have, the more likely they will be green or hazel.
What determines a baby's eye color?
As many as 15 different genes play a role in determining eye color, making it complicated to accurately predict what color eye’s your baby will have. The reality is that almost anything can happen, even in families where it seems straightforward.
What are dominant alleles?
There are two alleles for each trait you inherit. One allele is more prominent than the other allele and it is called the dominant allele. The less prominent allele is called the recessive allele.
Can You Accurately Predict Your Baby’s Eye Color
Yes and no. While this baby eye color predictor tool does use genetic probability to make the best guess, actual results may vary. It’s also important to remember that most babies don’t have their final eye color until about six to nine months old.
Blue-eyed vs. brown-eyed Predictions
Brown and blue eye color were found to be accurately predicted 90% of the time in a study done in Amsterdam. Depending on where your ancestors came from, you are more likely to have dark or light eyes. But at this point, there’s no way to predict baby eye color with 100% certainty.
What about hazel eyes?
Hazel eyes are hard to predict because it’s typically a mixture of brown, green and amber shades. If both the parents have hazel eyes, there are 99% chances that the baby will also have hazel eyes. If both the parents have brown eyes, there is a 75% chance that their child will have brown eyes. If both the parents have green eyes, there are 99% chances that the baby will also have green eyes.
What about heterochromia?
Heterochromia is a genetic trait that affects the iris resulting in two eye colors. In Heterochromia iridis each iris has a different color. It can also be a result of Waardenburg syndrome.
Can two parents with brown eyes have a baby with blue eyes?
Brown eyes (and green eyes) are considered dominant, but two brown-eyed parents can definitely have a blue-eyed baby. If both of you have brown eyes, then there is approximately a 25% chance that your child will have blue eyes if you both carry a recessive blue-eye gene. If only one of you has a recessive blue-eye gene, and the other has two brown, dominant genes, then there is a less than 1% chance of the baby having blue eyes.
Do grandparents have an effect on eye color?
Yes! Grandparents can often give you clues about what recessive genes are knocking around. That said, your baby’s eye color inheritance probabilities are only changed by about 2-5% when it comes to grandparents.
Will my newborn’s blue eyes stay that way?
Many babies are born with blue eyes but depending on the amount of melanin in their iris you may see eye color changes between the ages of 3 and 6 months old. You might even see subtle eye color changes until their third birthday. Rest assured if your child is rocking a brown eye color it will most likely stay that way.
Did the eye color predictor get it right?
What color eye do you and your partner have, and what color eyes did your babe(s) end up with? Let us know in the comments!
Our Next Reco: Baby Hair Color Predictor
Get posts & giveaway updates delivered right to your inbox
Leave a Comment
FAQs
Two brown-eyed parents are likely (but not guaranteed) to have a child with brown eyes. If you notice one of the grandparents has blue eyes, the chances of having a blue-eyed baby go up a bit. If one parent has brown eyes and the other has blue eyes, odds are about even on eye color.
What color eyes baby predictor? ›
Both parents with brown eyes: 75% chance of baby with brown eyes, 18.8% chance of baby with green eyes, 6.3% chance of baby with blue eyes. Both parents with blue eyes: 99% chance of baby with blue eyes, 1% chance of baby with green eyes, 0% chance of baby with brown eyes.
How to tell what color newborn eyes will be? ›
Simply put, it depends on the paring of the parent genes. These genes can mutate into 3 "alleles", brown, green and blue. Brown is dominant over green and blue; green is dominant over blue and blue is recessive. Therefore, your baby's eye color depends on whether they inherit dominant or recessive genes from you.
What color eyes will my baby most likely have? ›
If you and your partner both have brown eyes, your baby is likely to have brown eyes. If one of your baby's grandparents has blue eyes, your baby's chances of having blue eyes are higher. If you have blue eyes and your partner has brown eyes, or vice versa, your baby's odds are about even for either eye color.
Which parent determines eye color? ›
A child's eye color depends on the pairing of genes passed on from each parent, which is thought to involve at least three gene pairs. The two main gene pairs geneticists have focused on are EYCL1 (also called the gey gene) and EYCL3 (also called the bey2 gene).
What color do GREY babies eyes turn? ›
What color will gray babies' eyes turn? If your child is born with gray eyes, they may stay light or actually turn hazel or brown during the course of your child's first year of life.
How do you get hazel eyes? ›
Hazel eyes happen when your irises have less melanin than someone with brown eyes, but more melanin than someone with blue or green eyes. Hazel eyes are a combination of brown, gold or green. It's not an equal mix.
What age do babies true eye color show? ›
As more melanin develops, the eyes can darken to green, hazel, or brown. Predicting when your child's eyes will stop changing color can vary. “The range of time when a baby will develop their 'true' eye color varies, but it usually happens between six and nine months of age,” Dr. Zepeda says.
What is the rarest eye color? ›
Gray: The Rarest Eye Color
| Eye Color | U.S. Population | World Population |
|---|
| Gray and other | Less than 1% | Less than 1% |
| Green | 9% | 2% |
| Hazel/amber | 18% | 10% |
| Blue | 27% | 8% to 10% |
1 more rowJan 1, 2024
10 Brown eye color is a dominant trait and blue eye color is a recessive trait. Green eye color is a mix of both. Green is recessive to brown but dominant to blue. Other genes that help determine eye, skin, and hair color include the genes ASIP, IRF4, SLC24A4, SLC24A5, SLC45A2, TPCN2, TYR, and TYRP1.
The genetics of height
As a general rule of thumb, your height can be predicted based on how tall your parents are. If they are tall or short, then your own height is said to end up somewhere based on the average heights between your two parents. Genes aren't the sole predictor of a person's height.
Which parent determines hair color? ›
While dark-haired parents tend to have dark-haired kids, hair color genetics is quite complex. Your hair color depends in part on how many genetic variants you inherit from both of your parents. If you have brown hair, your shade of brown depends on how many light and dark markers you inherit from your mom and dad.
Can two brown-eyed parents make a blue-eyed baby? ›
Flexi Says: Two brown-eyed parents (if both are heterozygous) can have a blue-eyed baby. If both the parents have brown eyes, then there is generally a 25% chance for their child to have blue eyes. Because both the brown-eyed parents have a recessive blue-eye gene and can pass it to the next generation.
What is the dominant eye color for babies? ›
10 Brown eye color is a dominant trait and blue eye color is a recessive trait. Green eye color is a mix of both. Green is recessive to brown but dominant to blue. Other genes that help determine eye, skin, and hair color include the genes ASIP, IRF4, SLC24A4, SLC24A5, SLC45A2, TPCN2, TYR, and TYRP1.
What are the odds of having a blue-eyed baby? ›
If both parents have blue eyes, then it's almost a 100% chance that their kids will have blue eyes. Now if one parent has blue eyes and the other has brown eyes, then there is a zero to 50% chance of the child having blue eyes."
Are hazel eyes dominant or recessive? ›
There are two main types of hazel eyes: those with brown as the dominant color in the iris and those with green as the dominant color. While all hazel eyes will have a combination of green and brown colors, the difference in dominant colors is why hazel eyes can appear either mostly green or mostly brown.
Which color is the first one that baby's eyes detect? ›
Young babies are indeed capable of seeing colors, but their brains may not perceive them as clearly or vividly as older children and adults do. The first primary color your baby can see is red, and this happens a few weeks into life.
