How Did Colours Become Last Names?

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
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    SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
    Colour Last Names: surnames.behindthename.com/na...
    Mr. Black & Ms. White: www.grammarphobia.com/blog/20...
    How Surnames Begun: www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhi....
    How 'Washington' Became the Blackest Name in America: www.theatlantic.com/politics/...
    Why is the surname Gray more common than the surname Grey in the UK?: english.stackexchange.com/que...
    Pink: www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Pin....
    Chaffinch Calls: www.bl.uk/the-language-of-bir...
    Purple: www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Purple
    Orange: www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Orange
    House of Orange: www.britannica.com/topic/Hous...

ความคิดเห็น • 757

  • @NameExplain
    @NameExplain  3 ปีที่แล้ว +233

    If you could have any colour as a last name what one would you choose?

  • @Illumisepoolist
    @Illumisepoolist 3 ปีที่แล้ว +897

    Speaking of colors, Was there ever a Roy G Biv?

    • @fermintenava5911
      @fermintenava5911 3 ปีที่แล้ว +58

      There was actually a rapper named Biv - Michael Lamont Bivins.

    • @Froge0
      @Froge0 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      @@fermintenava5911 There is in Sam and Max

    • @Robbie-pc1dl
      @Robbie-pc1dl 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Bri’ish

    • @fermintenava5911
      @fermintenava5911 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@Froge0 I thought that what OP referred to.

    • @haseenabadshah5381
      @haseenabadshah5381 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      69 likes lmao

  • @jjc5475
    @jjc5475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +488

    we didn't have last names in the Netherlands. so when napoleon came he forced everyone to choose one.
    some people rebelled and called themselves shit, ect. cursing their kin for forever. (poepjes)

    • @pietergeerse5522
      @pietergeerse5522 3 ปีที่แล้ว +124

      Or Naaktgeboren (born nude)

    • @PureReggae
      @PureReggae 3 ปีที่แล้ว +64

      Are there any common Dutch names with swears in them? People probably changed a letter or two in it over time

    • @Ibelikemj
      @Ibelikemj 3 ปีที่แล้ว +67

      So that’s why a bunch of you guys have the same last name as villages

    • @jjc5475
      @jjc5475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      @@Ibelikemj yes for sure!

    • @jjc5475
      @jjc5475 3 ปีที่แล้ว +52

      @@PureReggae they're not that common because many people completely changed their names.

  • @erichtomanek4739
    @erichtomanek4739 3 ปีที่แล้ว +629

    The surname Black is a contraction from Blacksmith. Smithies are very dirty work places. Hence the smith's skin, before washing, was black. It's also due to hair colour. NOT due to intrinsic skin colour of the English people.

    • @misterbk1791
      @misterbk1791 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      It actually isn’t to due with the skin majority of english peoples jus over 7000 years ago was dark skin because they eat meat or fish more then they did plants
      Also majority of English people had dark hair or the fact over 60% people of them would have darker then pasty white skin because of where they lived they weren’t rich they weren’t royal they lived in huts cottages small houses crowded houses streets they had a lot of dust on them etc etc soil as well hard working farmers would have darker skins as not many people had proper baths the earlier you go in England’s history

    • @misterbk1791
      @misterbk1791 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Smiths work was actually very clean because they wore more clothing in fact their clothing was black ......... another reason for black smith please correct your information

    • @blookarakal4417
      @blookarakal4417 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I heard that the same thing happen with the name White. Whitesmith is a real thing

    • @OtakuNoShitpost
      @OtakuNoShitpost 2 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      Blacksmiths are called as such due to the color of the iron, not from the soot or dirt of the job. Many jobs were dirty

    • @TheDuckMan2523
      @TheDuckMan2523 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      Blacksmiths get the name from the colour of iron, in the same way that goldsmiths do, and silversmiths,

  • @jonistan9268
    @jonistan9268 3 ปีที่แล้ว +182

    When languages develop 'blue' is one of the last colours to get a name, before that it falls under green. In Homer's epics you won't find 'blue' at all and he uses other words to describe the sea, often comparing it to things we'd call green.

    • @grunions9648
      @grunions9648 3 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      Yes it was sometimes even described as bronze, which is kind of weird to us. The same is true of orange, which is why red squirrels are actually orange for example. The colour was eventually named after the fruit.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L 2 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@grunions9648 wasn’t that about the depth and lustre, rather than a direct colour comparison? Such as how Irish (the language) traditionally looks at tones and shades much more than hue when deciding which words to label colours with.

    • @PristinePerceptions
      @PristinePerceptions 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@grunions9648 "Bronze" actually makes perfect sense. If you leave any bronze object outside for long, it oxidizes and turns blue. It seems weird to us because we aren't used to making and using bronze objects in modern daily life.

    • @oldvlognewtricks
      @oldvlognewtricks 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      The wine-dark sea

    • @geekygalaxy4307
      @geekygalaxy4307 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I saw in the Odyssey the sea was called 'purple-dark sea.'

  • @arthuruppiano3211
    @arthuruppiano3211 3 ปีที่แล้ว +554

    5:48. Llwyd was also anglicized as "Floyd." So "Pink Floyd" literally means "Pink Grey."

    • @Amy_the_Lizard
      @Amy_the_Lizard 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I also thought about that... ^_^'

    • @Terrus_38
      @Terrus_38 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      And George Floyd - George Gray.

    • @811brian
      @811brian 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      There’s no letter F in Llwyd, so why is it pronounced that way?

    • @littelcreatchure506
      @littelcreatchure506 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      why not Lloyd?

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@811brian Welsh has different pronunciation rules for its written language just as Irish does; or French, German, or Spanish.

  • @kid_doonski
    @kid_doonski 3 ปีที่แล้ว +273

    I've heard that green also may derive from people's eye colors. And since green is a pretty rare eye color it would be a fair distinction between other people.

  • @656hookemhorns
    @656hookemhorns 3 ปีที่แล้ว +301

    I went to school with a person named Lloyd Gray, so he was Gray Gray lol, no relation to me.

    • @marmac83
      @marmac83 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      What are the odds, with such a common name? *eyeroll*

    • @billylauwda9178
      @billylauwda9178 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      *50 shades of grey*

    • @edi9892
      @edi9892 3 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      Ive seen Bianca DeWitt, which would be the corresponding white white LOL

  • @noelaguirrechavez4462
    @noelaguirrechavez4462 3 ปีที่แล้ว +254

    Speaking of hair names, in spanish there's the last name Rubio, literally blonde

    • @jakubpociecha8819
      @jakubpociecha8819 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      It's Rubio!
      *Spills water on people*
      *Drinks water*
      *Throws out the bottle*

    • @leeallbluem1
      @leeallbluem1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@jakubpociecha8819 he hit my hand
      nobody has ever hit my hand
      i never hear of this one
      look at those hand are they small hand?
      and he refer to my hand if they small?
      something else must be small i guarantee you no problem i guarantee

    • @hankbarcelona7314
      @hankbarcelona7314 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      And Moreno which means dark-haired or dark-skinned, right?

    • @Alex-fv2qs
      @Alex-fv2qs 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      And Rojas (the red ones) which is a very common surname

    • @arnoldamaral7406
      @arnoldamaral7406 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@hankbarcelona7314 Olive completed like Sofia Loren & Penelope Cruz. Arnold Bourbon Amaral

  • @abbyella2370
    @abbyella2370 3 ปีที่แล้ว +201

    This just reminded me of some of my classmates in primary school - we had a Joe Brown, Joe White and Joe Pink! I always thought that was rather strange!

    • @fomalhaut_the_great
      @fomalhaut_the_great 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      insert unclever joe mama joke

    • @Amy_the_Lizard
      @Amy_the_Lizard 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      You had a pack of multicolored Joes

    • @nephele16
      @nephele16 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Together they can make a Joe rainbow

    • @Chigger
      @Chigger 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      @@fomalhaut_the_great Primary school? None of those colors are primary!

    • @DelightfullyGrace
      @DelightfullyGrace 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      My brother’s name is Joe Brown lol

  • @carterwoodson8818
    @carterwoodson8818 3 ปีที่แล้ว +100

    This happens in a lot of languages I think too
    Blanche and Bianca relating to the color white
    Viridiana is a common spanish name relating to the color green
    colors are used a lot in names in japan, Aoyama and Midoriyama being blue mountain and green mountain

    • @robindemeyer8960
      @robindemeyer8960 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      I must say tho, in my language Dutch, being in the same language family as English this never happens.

    • @Alex-fv2qs
      @Alex-fv2qs 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Also, Rojas (the red ones) is a pretty common surname in many spanish speaking countries

    • @weijiafang1298
      @weijiafang1298 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      In a joke project years ago in which characters from Detective Conan are given parody Chinese names, Shuichi Akai was directly given the last name Zhu, because "Akai" is homophone with "Red" in Japanese, while the Chinese family name "Zhu" may also be interpreted as "scarlet."

  • @rizzo_grt
    @rizzo_grt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +77

    Some Latin-based colour surnames include Rosa (Pink), Rosso/Rossi/Roux and other variations (red), Alba/Alvarez (white), Bianchi/Blanco (white), Prieto (Black) and Bruno (brown).

    • @araparseghian2
      @araparseghian2 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Giallo (yellow), Verdi (green), Viola (purple), Grigio (grey), Nero (black)

    • @minigrinpins2528
      @minigrinpins2528 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      wait, My aunt’s name is Blanca Alba… WHITE WHITE

  • @x42brown33
    @x42brown33 3 ปีที่แล้ว +35

    My surname is Brown. While doing some research in parish records I found an entry saying 'Alister and Mazie of the Cameron having weaved and worn brown cloth since the banning of the tartain are now known as Alister and Mazie Brown'. I like to think that is where my surname comes from but don't honestly know that.
    Mr White our scoutmaster back in the 40s took the name White to hide his German name.

    • @mollybrown8361
      @mollybrown8361 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      That’s so interesting. My last name is Brown also. Looking at my family I reckon it came from our hair and eye colour as we all have dark features

    • @m00njaguar
      @m00njaguar 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      The British royal family also changed their last name to hide their original German last name. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a royal family from Germany. Their son became King Edward VII of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. During World War One, the British royal house was to Windsor, taking its name from the royal residence, Windsor Castle.

  • @holeeshi9959
    @holeeshi9959 3 ปีที่แล้ว +70

    in most ancient languages they don't have a specific word for "blue"(they use "black" or "green" to describe the color). which is why Blue is much rarer as a name. and Black comes from the etymology of "Blanc" which means white, so a lot of "Blake" or even "Black" might actually be named after "White".

    • @PeterAuto1
      @PeterAuto1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Black and Blanc are related, but the split happened still in proto-Germanic. So at the time Last names came about these were already different

    • @schwi5425
      @schwi5425 ปีที่แล้ว

      Black and blanc were originally used to mean fire. I’m some languages it came to mean the bright light of the fire and in others the dark soot it left behind. Like the other person said, the split happened thousands of years ago so there isn’t really any possibility of the name black actually meaning white

    • @reddhood441
      @reddhood441 ปีที่แล้ว

      Black and Blanc come from the same root, however the root rather meant "to burn" and in connection "burnt" if you have ever seen burnt wood, you will notice that it turns black, but it is somewhat reflective and can look white, also ashes are pale white, while soot is black, so the reason there are two different meanings is due to a disagreement between people if charred objects were light or dark in color.

  • @ichbinben.
    @ichbinben. 3 ปีที่แล้ว +76

    I'm German and I actually know a lot of people with the last name "Pink", it's extremely common in the area where I live. But I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the colour, since the word "pink" only became part of our language pretty recently, being borrowed from English. Any other Germans here who have an idea where the German last name "Pink" comes from?

    • @vanhavirta
      @vanhavirta 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Could it have something to do with fish, fishing, or fishing boats? See: en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/pink#English

  • @kevinfalcon4488
    @kevinfalcon4488 3 ปีที่แล้ว +150

    Shout out to CGP. You, him, real life lore, and useful charts are my top educational youtubers.

    • @eyjagnau2141
      @eyjagnau2141 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Agreed

    • @nathanides7584
      @nathanides7584 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Wendover + HAI, Veritassium, Physics girl, asapScience

    • @arunghadi
      @arunghadi 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Vsauce, Vsauce2 , Vsauce3....

    • @jaishkhan7442
      @jaishkhan7442 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Thoughty2, Veritasium, Lockstin, Mark Rober, Oversimplified, Exurb1a, SamONella

    • @Christian-se5si
      @Christian-se5si 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Vox, Johnny Harris, Sabrina and friends, Sam onella, Langfocus, polymatter, and tier zoo

  • @wj11jam78
    @wj11jam78 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    A note about the name "Blue", in the past the colour blue was not distinguished from the colour green. Like how in modern English, blue is usually not differentiated from cyan, even through they are very different colours.
    It's possible that many people with the name "Green" could have actually been named after something blue.

  • @fermintenava5911
    @fermintenava5911 3 ปีที่แล้ว +59

    There was also another reason for colorful names, especially in Germany: In the 18th til 19th century, Jewish citizens were "suggested" to integrate better into society and receive more civil rights by changing their patrimonial family name into a more German one. To comply with that request while also staying true to their culture, many jews chose themselves names with some symbolical relation to their history. In some cases, they chose colours in accordance to the Twelve tribes of Israel, or in relation to metals and gemstones. The tribe of Ruben, e. g. could be represented by both Rubin or Roth (ruby and red, respectively).

    • @jamesfrankel7827
      @jamesfrankel7827 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      To add to that names like blau-blue, weiss-white, grun-green, as mentioned schwartz-black.

    • @m00njaguar
      @m00njaguar 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I hadn't thought about it before, but the last name "Rothstein", that means "red stone" in German, would probably be an indirect reference to a ruby

  • @keriezy
    @keriezy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +91

    We call grandma Grandma Black. She remarried. When I was a kid I would say, "I am going to my black grandma's house!"

    • @KingNedya
      @KingNedya 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      That reminds me of how when I was a toddler I would call my doctor "Mr. Black Guy"...he wasn't even black, he was Asian.

  • @alcarbo8613
    @alcarbo8613 3 ปีที่แล้ว +89

    There aren't many Blacks in the U.S with the last name Black, but there are a heck of a lot with the last name Brown, surprised you didn't mention it.

    • @bluemym1nd
      @bluemym1nd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      He did

    • @alcarbo8613
      @alcarbo8613 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@bluemym1nd No he didn’t suggest you watch the video again

    • @bluemym1nd
      @bluemym1nd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@alcarbo8613 3:06

    • @alcarbo8613
      @alcarbo8613 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@bluemym1nd He doesn’t say Brown is a common Black Name he just says it’s a common name in general, so your wrong

    • @isaiah4006
      @isaiah4006 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Fax

  • @JL-ti3us
    @JL-ti3us 3 ปีที่แล้ว +59

    In South Africa - Oranje is a common last name anongst afrikaans speaker’s.

    • @comradesam3029
      @comradesam3029 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      The only relation I can think of is the association of orange with the the Dutch/The Netherlands as a whole

    • @kaloarepo288
      @kaloarepo288 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@comradesam3029 In the final analysis it doesn't refer to a fruit or a color but to a city in southern France called ORANGE which was in possession of the stadholder William the founder of the Dutch Republic -William inherited the principality from a relative with the proviso that he use it as part of his title.later on the color became associated with it purely because of homophony.

    • @poliorcetix979
      @poliorcetix979 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@kaloarepo288 True, and the name of the city has really no relation with the fruit or color, since it comes from the Celtic name meaning "High point of view".

  • @randomgamerdude98
    @randomgamerdude98 3 ปีที่แล้ว +57

    I’m surprised you didn’t mention Spanish last names. Like Rojas, Rosado, Prieto, Negron, etc.

    • @musAKulture
      @musAKulture 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      haha now we know what language he doesn't speak a word of

    • @sirsytham1588
      @sirsytham1588 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Maybe because he is English and his videos are directed to an English audience?

    • @randomgamerdude98
      @randomgamerdude98 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      @@sirsytham1588 i just wanted to mention it since he put a number of foreign surnames at the end

  • @ignatiusqi9736
    @ignatiusqi9736 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    there are many Chinese surnames that's also color names, such as Hong (红, red), Huang (黄, yellow), Lan (蓝, blue), Bai (白, white) etc., but most of them came from names of ancient city-states and does not have any direct connections to the colors per se.

  • @RonnieOP
    @RonnieOP 3 ปีที่แล้ว +57

    Just one thing about the last name "Schwartz" and the colour it relates to
    The colour is actually spelt without the t ("schwarz") which is also a last name btw

    • @wolfpackjew
      @wolfpackjew 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I wonder if the t was added in Yiddish, since Schwartz is a common Jewish last name.

    • @NateWatson51503
      @NateWatson51503 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      @@wolfpackjew I assume the "t" was added in English to try to retain the same pronunciation, as a German "z" actually has three sounds: t, s, z, in that order.

    • @Chigger
      @Chigger 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      It became Gray Matter when White was involved.

  • @kshatrapavan
    @kshatrapavan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    In the Marathi ethnicity of India we have such last names.
    Pāndharé (White), Kālé (Black), Gōré (Fair), Sāvalé (Dark), Dhavalé (White), Hiravé (Green), Nilé (Blue), Tāmbadé (Red), Zāmbhalé (Purple), Pātalé (Pink).
    In addition to the usual place name and occupation based last names, there are also last names after animals, trees, vegetables, spices and even disabilities!

  • @hollybrown8449
    @hollybrown8449 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    If this is interesting to anyone, apparently my family’s last name is Brown due to their occupation. The Brown surname for us came from when they were Irish farmers and the Brown name was from the soil :)

    • @atomic_guy3528
      @atomic_guy3528 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I believe that mine (also brown) comes from brown hair/eyes

    • @stephenwright8824
      @stephenwright8824 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      I knew a woman called Brown whose family came from, Scotland and, according to her grandfather, pronounced it like the French _brun_ in Scotland.

  • @thepixelstash3078
    @thepixelstash3078 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    I also suspect that color names could have come from dyers who were known to sell a particular color. Likely most common with red, yellow, and blue, since those were fairly common dyes made out of madder root, weld, and woad respectively.

  • @nebulan
    @nebulan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    Huang makes sense as a Chinese location last name after the yellow river which has had people living in its shores for millennias.

  • @modmaker7617
    @modmaker7617 3 ปีที่แล้ว +36

    So the Green Ninja; Lloyd Garmadon from LEGO Ninjago is more in common with grey rather than green.

    • @octoberviberations233
      @octoberviberations233 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Finally
      Someone said it

    • @KingNedya
      @KingNedya 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That's exactly what I thought of when I saw that Lloyd means grey as well.

  • @marna_li
    @marna_li 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Eva Green is French, of Swedish descent on her fathers side. Green is an alternative spelling of ”gren” (long e) meaning ”branch” as in tree branch.
    The ”gren” part is common as part of surnames, like Lundgren (”grove branch”) or Liljegren (”lily branch”)

  • @hannayoung9657
    @hannayoung9657 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    In Sweden we have people with the surname Blå ( Blue), Gul ( yellow), Vit ( White), Grön ( Green), Brun ( Brown), Svart ( black), Grå ( Grey), Orange ( orange) and Lila ( Purple).

    • @Furienna
      @Furienna 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Har vi? Jag har då aldrig sett de efternamnen.

  • @mediumjohnsilver
    @mediumjohnsilver 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I had imagined that the last name “Green” may have derived from an occupation such as greengrocer, and was shortened.

  • @tc2334
    @tc2334 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    As an English teacher in Asia, students have asked me why English-speaking people have colors as last names, so I needed this. Thank you. lol

  • @eyjagnau2141
    @eyjagnau2141 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    This was such a great video! Your channel is very entertaining!

  • @wobbles3217
    @wobbles3217 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I think black, white and brown last names are vocational, referring to blacksmiths, whitesmiths (people who work with nickel and pewter) and brownsmiths (i believe those are coppersmiths or bronze smiths)

  • @karenchristinewise7833
    @karenchristinewise7833 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Black was probably derived from a blacksmith or from the prince of adders black. White probably comes from white or fair hair. In Irish, Fionn was blonde it became Finn in English, Donnacha meant brown haired, Rua was red haired, Rua Ri was a red haired king, Rory is the English. Gorm means blue, so any surname Gorman, Gormley is to do with blue. Dubh means black, Dubh Gall translates as black-haired stranger is now Douglas in English.

    • @randylmacwhite9666
      @randylmacwhite9666 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Bán or Bháin means white in Irish

    • @karenchristinewise7833
      @karenchristinewise7833 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@randylmacwhite9666 Fionn is fair, as in blonde. Dearg is red but rua is for an animal, an madra rua is a fox. An Gaelige agat? Different words for different circumstances. I was ash blonde and my sister was platinum. A fair-haired person was never called bui. Rugadhim i mBaile Atha Cliath.

  • @myscreen2urs
    @myscreen2urs 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    When you said "Regenbogan", I had a completely different image in mind. I can't actually picture Regan as a bogan.

  • @garyskyner5855
    @garyskyner5855 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Born and bred in the UK and never once have I heard of 'Cluedo' being called 'Clue' here. Surely you meant it is called 'Clue' in the US?

  • @derekdufon5069
    @derekdufon5069 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    This video requires a video explaining why you guys call that game “cluedo”

    • @sohopedeco
      @sohopedeco 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      In Brazil, we call it "Detetive" (detective).

    • @derekdufon5069
      @derekdufon5069 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@sohopedeco what the what??

    • @macaroon_nuggets8008
      @macaroon_nuggets8008 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I guess you could say, "I have no clue."

    • @dilbert719
      @dilbert719 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      It's pun based on the game Ludo, which was brought to America as Parcheesi.

    • @derekdufon5069
      @derekdufon5069 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@dilbert719 you call Parcheesi “Ludo”!!!?? :-O

  • @robbybaker6657
    @robbybaker6657 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    How did I not find this channel until now. I am OBSESSED with names.
    This channel is a godsend
    I bet you already know this but
    My given name is a diminutive of Robert which can mean famed and also bright and shining (I tend to focus on the later as I like it more)
    My last name is an occupation name

  • @TransparentPickle
    @TransparentPickle 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    You should do how colours got their names. Love the content!

    • @sohopedeco
      @sohopedeco 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      He already has that video.

    • @SP-bt9mp
      @SP-bt9mp 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That's what i thought this video was going to be about when i pressed it xD

  • @RobotWillie
    @RobotWillie 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I will use this video to pay tribute to my grandma on my dads side who died this July 2020 of cancer of the bladder and pneumonia , sadly also I now have no grandparents that are living. Her last name was Brown, although it was the last name of the last guy she was married to for a brief time, a guy my dad or I never met, but she never went back to a maiden name or a different married name even though it'd been a few decades since they were married. So she is the only member of my family who had the last name Brown, as she didn't have kids with the guy. No one else close to me has a color last name but I will always be reminded of my grandma Rose when I hear the name Brown even though it is not a name that runs in the family and was just a married name.

  • @jacoblevin2178
    @jacoblevin2178 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Are you going to do a second video on Silver (like Nate Silver) and Gold with it's variants (Goldstone, Goldstein), maybe other stones and metals (I can think of Steel and Steele)?

  • @johnscanlan9335
    @johnscanlan9335 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Also in German the word for red is roth. And in Germany and Austria the last name Roth is pretty common.

    • @anlumo1
      @anlumo1 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      There's also the famous family called Rothschild (red shield), which all English speakers (at least on TH-cam) incorrectly pronounce as roth's child.

  • @ronmaximilian6953
    @ronmaximilian6953 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Eva Green's name doesn't come from the English word green, but rather from a Swedish cognate, "gren," which means branch or tree limb. of course, the English word green also comes from the same proto-germanic root word for plants.

  • @deplatformedcrowprinceluna6339
    @deplatformedcrowprinceluna6339 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The mandarin word for yellow (黄/黃/Huáng/Huang) and red (红/紅/Hóng/Hong) are popular and also common to Chinese speakers and ethnic Han Chinese people.

  • @lornaduwn
    @lornaduwn 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    While reading a book about the Scottish Clans which listed the names associated with each clan, I came across a mention of the reason that many Scottish families have color names. During the time when many Scottish families fled to Ireland to escape the turmoil of war, they changed their names in order to maintain the secrecy of their origin. Many clans adopted a certain color as their surname. so that, once in Ireland, if they came across a person named Brown or Black they would know which clan they came from and be able to recognize their clan members.

  • @Donut-Eater
    @Donut-Eater 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    my surname means "red man", probably after red hair, but since red hair is a very recessive trait it probably disappeared from my family for probably a long time, but now me, my brother, and my paternal grandmother have red hair but no other biological relatives have red hair

  • @alsmoviebarn
    @alsmoviebarn 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    "This hardcore ghetto gangsta image takes a lot of practice, I'm not black like Barry White no I am white like Frank Black is"

    • @KnuckleHunkybuck
      @KnuckleHunkybuck 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      If man is 5 and the devil is 6 then that must make me 7.

  • @vivaeljason
    @vivaeljason 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Blue came about later than other color names, so it's possible that's another reason why the name is uncommon.

  • @AT-yn9dm
    @AT-yn9dm 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Humans do have the color green on their bodies, we have green eyes.

  • @terrencestearns3648
    @terrencestearns3648 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    blue is thought to be a more recently named (possibly even seen) color so it makes sense that it wouldn’t be the most common color-based last name

  • @allanrichardson1468
    @allanrichardson1468 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Lots of people of German or Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry have surnames of Weiss (White) or Schwartz (Black). Examples: Erich Weiss, the birth name of Harry Houdini; Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American actor and former Governor of California.

  • @cazrethomas
    @cazrethomas 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Unless the last name black came about after/during slavery, I would say its probably based on occupation or hair color, not skin color

  • @elijahyamauchi
    @elijahyamauchi 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Aoi, and Midori are popular Japanese first names that mean blue and green respectively

  • @joshuaswart8211
    @joshuaswart8211 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This video made me unreasonably happy. I've got a colour-based last name! (But not an English one)

  • @sylviaramsay9180
    @sylviaramsay9180 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Orange is a relatively new addition to English that was adopted after the fruit orange started to be imported. Prior to this the shade we call orange was referred to as red-yellow. As other posts say blue is also a newer lable. Older texts refer to the sea using terms that translate as shades of green, grey, purple.

  • @lukedetering4490
    @lukedetering4490 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    5:53 Sorry Lloyd. You are not the green ninja

  • @davegreenlaw5654
    @davegreenlaw5654 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thanks to a history teacher of mine, who wondered out loud about where my surname came from one day while talking about where surnames came from, I looked into my name. Turns out that one possible origin was that Greenlaw (which is Scottish, BTW) may have been derived from 'Greenleiu', which apparently meant 'green hills'.

  • @AnkerPeet
    @AnkerPeet 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    When I lived in Peru, there was a surname I came across 'Puca Puca' which is Quechua for 'Red Red'.

  • @SnarkNSass
    @SnarkNSass 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Garys and Lucys!😂😂

    • @victorgomes103
      @victorgomes103 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Is that a reference to something?

    • @SnarkNSass
      @SnarkNSass 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@victorgomes103 yeppers. Where do surnames come from? A way to tell apart the Garys and Lucys....

    • @victorgomes103
      @victorgomes103 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@SnarkNSass I know you were quoting the video, but I thought "Garys and Lucys" was a reference to some work of media.

    • @SnarkNSass
      @SnarkNSass 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@victorgomes103 oh lol. IDK. If it is... Went over my head too😂

  • @mr.turdlybird4387
    @mr.turdlybird4387 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    i don’t know about other languages, but particularly for ashkenazi jews, german color names are common, like schwarz, weiss, goldberg, geller, rotman, gruenberg, etc but blau is more rare and people don’t usually have the last name blue

  • @Taima
    @Taima ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Unless you happened to mention it after the section on Green, you might also have wanted to note that people can have green eyes too. And gray for that matter.

  • @foxdeleon
    @foxdeleon 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thanks for this vid! I'm a bit sensitive with my spelling when sending messages to someone from the UK and the US so I'll try to keep in mind that grey=England and gray=America.

  • @alankent
    @alankent 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Great video! Very informative.
    What about "Violet?" I know it as a feminine first name. Is it also a last name?
    Gold and silver are common. Both are used in combination names as well. Are these used because of being colors or precious metals?

    • @oldvlognewtricks
      @oldvlognewtricks 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Violet is a flower name, and precious metals were frequently taken as family names, just as gemstones were popular given names.
      They still work, since the colours were named after the plants/metals, but I don’t think the names refer to the colours specifically.

  • @GeoNeilUK
    @GeoNeilUK 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Another variation of Fairchild would also be Fairbairn, which I've encountered in North East England.
    Also for those who live among nature, Forreter, Wood.

  • @sadmanislam5111
    @sadmanislam5111 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    great video What is your favourite colour as a name?

  • @mrmacguff1n
    @mrmacguff1n 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    My last name is Roan, which is a color pattern of a horses coat. Still wondering where that started

    • @danorott
      @danorott 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      What?! I thought your name was MacGuffin. I've been lied to!

    • @mrmacguff1n
      @mrmacguff1n 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@danorott Bamboozled again

  • @DhanuRadha5
    @DhanuRadha5 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Indian living in Hungary here. Fun fact, a loooot of people here in Hungary have colors as their surname, it was something I found really interesting and always wondered why was this the case...

  • @HotelPapa100
    @HotelPapa100 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    The fact that brown is a common hair colour actually speaks AGAINST it becoming a name. You tend to pick features that set people apart.

  • @SuprousOxide
    @SuprousOxide 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    You would think blue or red would be a more common name BECAUSE there are less people with blue eyes are red hair.
    Why would brown be common? Which Joe do you mean? Oh, the Joe with brown hair. But ALL the Joes have brown hair...
    But if you're talking about the Cindy with Red hair, that's likely to be a good descriptor

    • @oldvlognewtricks
      @oldvlognewtricks 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Russell, Flanagan, Couch, Gough, Radcliffe, Roy, Roth, Rothschild all refer to the colour red
      The surname Gorman means ‘little blue one’.

  • @daimonhampton
    @daimonhampton 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I don't really trust the re search on this

  • @aaronodonoghue1791
    @aaronodonoghue1791 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Green could also be green eyes I imagine (Blue is also a relatively common surname, and blue eyes are very common, as are brown and grey, and I've heard of Hazell as a surname, could be hazel eyes, could be someone who lived by a hazel tree). I have heard of Pink as a surname (maybe someone with a very pink skintone, like some Irish people tend to have) (and Pinkman, like Jesse Pinkman), I've heard of Purple as a surname (someone who made/traded purple dye, or someone who acted like a royal), I've heard of Orange from Take That's Jason Orange, I've even heard of regular words that also happen to be colours that are also surnames (e.g. Rose, Lemon, Chestnut). Gold and Silver are surnames too, and refer to people who worked with those metals or rich people who had lots of gold/silver. I have also heard of Ruddy as a surname (which would be a variation of 'red')
    I've even heard of Yellow as a surname (although I had to go out of my way to look for it), and Rainbow (in English now, not German). And if I'm not mistaken, the name Bowie (as in David Bowie) also refers to blondes (buí is the Irish for yellow, and it's not a huge jump from buí (pronounced "bwee") to Bowie. Although in Irish, the word for blonde is 'fionn', which gives us the first names of Fionn (pronounced 'fyun', like 'fun' but with a Y sound after the F) and Finn (the Anglicized form), and the surname Finn, as well as names like Finbarr (from Irish 'fionn' and 'barr' (top), so it would refer to someone with a 'blonde top' (i.e. hair)). As far as I know, Douglas comes from the Irish 'dúghlas' meaning 'dark green' (dúghlas = dubh (black) + glas (green)), and by that logic, Finglas (a place in Dublin, but can also be a surname) would mean 'blonde-green' (maybe someone with blonde hair and green eyes?). Corcoran is another Irish surname derived from a colour, this time it's purple (while the word 'corcra', which Corcoran is derived from, does mean 'purple' in modern Irish, it used to refer to a dark red colour, so probably someone with a red complexion). So in Ireland, it's more common to (sort of) have Purple as a last name (although I don't think there's many of us whose last name is literally "Purple")

  • @danielleporter1829
    @danielleporter1829 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    There's a a very famous hotdog stand in Los Angeles called Pink's, the family that started in 1939 last name is Pink. In Spanish and Portuguese, Silva and Rosado, Rosales, or Rosada are common names either for the actual color of pink and Silver or last names as on Silva and Rosales. Plata is the word for silver when talking about the metal

  • @ronaldkarpatski399
    @ronaldkarpatski399 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Born and raised in rusyn family in Transcarpathia, I always was interested in origins of rusyn surnames. I have a friend with surname "Сідун (Sidun)" and I belive that it's came from word "Сідый (sidýj)" which means "gray (hair)" on rusyn. After watching your video, it's makes sense to me.

  • @clar1nettist204
    @clar1nettist204 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    speaking of hair colours, what about ginger? it's a common female first name and could be related to the cooking ingredient. and in Japanese, the word "shiro/白" means white and is a name

  • @EvaSnyder
    @EvaSnyder 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    There is a lot of speculation in this video. I had hoped for data.
    Pink Name Meaning
    English: nickname, possibly for a small person, from Middle English pink, penk ‘minnow’ (Old English pinc). English (southeastern): variant of Pinch. Variant spelling of German Pinck, an indirect occupational name for a blacksmith, an onomatopoeic word imitating the sound of hammering which was perceived as pink(e)pank. German (of Slavic origin): from a diminutive of Sorbian pien ‘log’, ‘tree stump’, hence probably a nickname for a solid or stubby person.
    Green Name Meaning
    English: one of the most common and widespread of English surnames, either a nickname for someone who was fond of dressing in this color (Old English grene) or who had played the part of the ‘Green Man’ in the May Day celebrations, or a topographic name for someone who lived near a village green, Middle English grene (a transferred use of the color term). In North America this name has no doubt assimilated cognates from other European languages, notably German Grün (see Gruen). Jewish (American): Americanized form of German Grün or Yiddish Grin, Ashkenazic ornamental names meaning ‘green’ or a short form of any of the numerous compounds with this element. Irish: translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from glas ‘gray’, ‘green’, ‘blue’. See also Fahey. North German: short form of a habitational name from a place name with Gren- as the first element (for example Greune, Greubole).
    Black Name Meaning
    Scottish and English: from Middle English blak(e) ‘black’ (Old English blæc, blaca), a nickname given from the earliest times to a swarthy or dark-haired man. Scottish and English: from Old English blac ‘pale’, ‘fair’, i.e. precisely the opposite meaning to 1, and a variant of Blake 2. Blake and Black are found more or less interchangeably in several surnames and place names. English: variant of Blanc as a Norman name. The pronunciation of the nasalized vowel gave considerable difficulty to English speakers, and its quality was often ignored. Scottish and Irish: translation of various names from Gaelic dubh ‘black’ (see Duff). Danish and Swedish: generally, probably the English and Scottish name, but in some cases perhaps a variant spelling of Blak, a nickname from blak ‘black’. In some cases, a translation of various names meaning ‘black’, for example German and Jewish Schwarz.
    Gray Name Meaning
    English: nickname for someone with gray hair or a gray beard, from Old English græg ‘gray’. In Scotland and Ireland it has been used as a translation of various Gaelic surnames derived from riabhach ‘brindled’, ‘gray’ (see Reavey). In North America this name has assimilated names with similar meaning from other European languages. English and Scottish (of Norman origin): habitational name from Graye in Calvados, France, named from the Gallo-Roman personal name Gratus, meaning ‘welcome’, ‘pleasing’ + the locative suffix -acum. French and Swiss French: habitational name from Gray in Haute-Saône and Le Gray in Seine-Maritime, both in France, or from Gray-la-ville in Switzerland, or a regional name from the Swiss canton of Graubünden

  • @Slenderbanana880
    @Slenderbanana880 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Imagining the pg, soft spoken NameExplain sitting down and enjoying breaking bad is pretty funny.

  • @forestofsecrets7273
    @forestofsecrets7273 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    iirc, in japan you can be named green green (緑みどり / midori midori). noticed it while browsing thru a names dictionary

  • @runrickyrun157
    @runrickyrun157 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    The video says the Crown in the past outlawed the wearing of purple? Source? It's not that I don't believe it, but curious what you are referring to specifically to read up on it.

    • @oldvlognewtricks
      @oldvlognewtricks 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Look up ‘sumptuary laws’ - long history of regulating appearance and consumption.

  • @felisd
    @felisd 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    A friend of mine who studies costuming and historic clothing-making techniques recently finished her Masters thesis on historical methods for achieving the colour purple. She told me that most of the reason why purple was not worn by much other than royalty is because the colour purple was notoriously hard to achieve through use of natural dyes. As such, it was a very expensive colour to achieve, and the only people who could afford any clothing in a purple clothing would be royalty or very high-class nobles.

  • @jamerican_bae
    @jamerican_bae 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    If you were ever looking for topic ideas. I think you might find the Akan naming system quite interesting

  • @samuelscott1113
    @samuelscott1113 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    So when are you going to make a video about the names of colours.

  • @_JayRamsey_
    @_JayRamsey_ 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Just for the record, I received a phonebook in the mail a week ago. I was very surprised. It was far smaller than those of my childhood.

  • @seanacameron8940
    @seanacameron8940 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Touchofpink, I think Everybody mentions my pink cheeks. LOL But then again, I do so love Blue. That song about Blue.. still a favourite !! Again, thank you for such yet another wonderful topic. Shall ask my lad how to donate to your channel. You are GRAND !!! hugs.

  • @greenbutter3190
    @greenbutter3190 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Stable video 👍

  • @leozyxs
    @leozyxs 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Not color related but my last name is from dutch origin and it literally means "what here", it makes me wonder how it became a surname

  • @AT-yn9dm
    @AT-yn9dm 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    You forgot to talk about the English/German surnames "Gold" and "Silver".

    • @oldvlognewtricks
      @oldvlognewtricks 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Are they referring to colours, or metals? I suppose it works either way.

  • @cennethadameveson3715
    @cennethadameveson3715 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Llwyd is Welsh for Grey and that is a mixture of Gwyn(white) as in Nell Gwynn and Du(black) as in John Dee the Elizabethan magician.
    I've seen a gravestone of a Mr Pink but I think it's a misspelling of Penc.

  • @seancondon5572
    @seancondon5572 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    2:35 - "Or Family Based" meaning like "I am Worf, Son of Mogh!"

  • @RodrigoPikatron
    @RodrigoPikatron 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In latin-derived languages, some surnames (and, especialy first names) derive from flavius, that reffer to blonde hair. In Portuguese it becomes Flávio.

  • @eclipsedemon0773
    @eclipsedemon0773 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I picked up somewhere that the surname Boyd is derived from the color yellow

  • @PuzzledMonkey
    @PuzzledMonkey 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    One of my great grandmothers had the surname Tzipperbrun, from the yiddish tzipper (from Hebrew tzippur) = bird, plus brun = brown. So, brown bird.

  • @gertvanderstraaten6352
    @gertvanderstraaten6352 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    We have the same type of names in Dutch, location is usually Van and then a town, like Van Gogh, Van den Bosch or a geographical feature, like Van den Heuvel (from the hill) or Van der Meer/Vermeer (from the lake) etc. Occupations like Smits (son of smith), Dekkers (son of thatcher) etc. Characteristics like Kleine/Cleine (shorty) or De Groot (tall guy). And family names like Jansen, Fransen, Gerritsen. Martens etc. Also names like Rood (red), Groen (Green) Blauw/Blaauw) (blue) etc.
    And De Bruin (the brown one), De Zwart/Zwart (the black one) and De Wit (the white one) but no grey somehow.

  • @emmahenderson2737
    @emmahenderson2737 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I like the Japanese name Midori which means green :)
    I think the name Blair means white too

    • @heatherswanson1664
      @heatherswanson1664 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      That's interesting for Blaire White who chose her first name

  • @RonieDoll
    @RonieDoll 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow I learned something new today

  • @TitusRedwind
    @TitusRedwind 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Redd White of Bluecorp is my favorite.

  • @marmac83
    @marmac83 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    How did colours become clickbait?

  • @christinebrown3359
    @christinebrown3359 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Nice video

  • @ronaldiplodicus
    @ronaldiplodicus 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    What about transparent, glitter, metallic, or matte?