What’s the Rarest Eye Color, and Why? (2024)

The originalhumaneye color

Brown eyes are the most common: Over half the people in the world have them, according to the AAO. In fact, about 10,000 years ago, all humans had brown eyes. Scientists speculate that their elevated levels of melanin helped protect people from thesun’s damaging rays. But as people moved from the sweltering climates of Africa and Asia to the cooler environments of Europe, there was less need for this protection.

At some point in history, as humans migrated north, a gene mutation occurred to reduce melanin production, says Kaplan. When the eyes have less melanin, they absorb less light. That means more light is scattered out from the iris, or coloredpart of the eye, which reflects off the surroundings. Eyes with the smallest amount of melanin in them will appear blue, while those with a little more melanin will appear green or hazel.​

Different colored eyes

Some people have a conditionin whicheach of their eyes is a different color. With this condition, called heterochromia,a person’siris color doesn’tmatch. Whena person isborn with it or developsit soon after birth, it’scalled congenital heterochromia. Althoughrare in humans, it’srelatively common in cats, horses and dogs (especially Australian sheepdogs, Dalmatians and a few other breeds.)

Much of the time, heterochromia is caused by genetics, but when it develops in adult, it can be due to a medical condition such as glaucoma or eye tumors.

Find out more about heterochromiain“What Can Having Two Different Colored Eyes Mean?”

Actress Elizabeth Taylor in the film "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof"

Archive Photos / Getty Images

Were Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes really violet?

Most people’s eyes are blue, green or brown, with some shades in between, notes Kaplan. This explains why your eyes may be dark green or hazel or even appear bluish gray. While Elizabeth Taylor made headlines with her violet eyes, her eyes were in fact blue. Blue eyes get their color from light that is coming in and being reflected out, so it is not surprising that they appeared as assorted colors based on lighting conditions.

Makeupcan bring out certain colors in the eye, Kaplan adds. Taylor also reportedly had a double row of eyelashes, a condition doctors call distichiasis, which helped accentuate her famous eyes. Some people with albinism do appear to have violet eyes, because the blood vessels in the back of their eyes can be seen under certain light conditions. People with albinism have little or no production ofmelaninpigment, which affects the color of skin, hair and eyes.