How rare is it for caucasians to have brown eyes?

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Ynog

Golden Member
Oct 9, 2002
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Originally posted by: miri
Since 2 blue eyed cacausians cannot have a brown eyed child and 2 brown eye parents can have a blue eyed child, even though blue eyes are recessive, it is rare to meet a caucasian with brown eyes. Poll is for caucasians only please.

Brown, - Father has brown, Sister has brown, Mother has Blue

What you neglect is that while 2 brown eye parents can produce a blue eyed child, they are more likely to produce a brown eyed child. Also when you deal with one brown and one blue you are still more likely or equally as likely, to have a child with brown eyes than blue eyes. And its actually not impossible for blue eyed parents to produce a brown eyed child, while for certain people with brown eyes its is impossible for them to have blue eyed children. The gentics for eye color are more complex than originally thought and still aren't completely understood. Because it is possible (while not likely that blue eyed parents can produce a brown eye child) IE, My grandparents on one side both have blue eyes, they had four daughters and while three of them are blue eyed, one is brown eyed. And when you see them there is no doubt they are sisters.
 

Kenazo

Lifer
Sep 15, 2000
10,429
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I have greeny/blue eyes, my wife has brown. Though both her parents have blue eyes. I thought that wasn't possible.
 

Lash444

Golden Member
Sep 17, 2002
1,708
63
91
Originally posted by: Kenazo
I have greeny/blue eyes, my wife has brown. Though both her parents have blue eyes. I thought that wasn't possible.

All I have to say is...how often did the UPS man stop by to deliver his package?

Green here.
 

veggiefrog

Member
Jan 4, 2004
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i have brown eyes, both my parents have brown eyes, my mother's parents both have brown eyes (altho my grandmother's parents were both blond/blue eyed scandinavians :confused: )

i thought hazel was a colour combination of green and brown ?
 

91TTZ

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
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Originally posted by: Adul

no it just means you dont under stand how genitics works....... As you can see why brown eyes wont happen with blue eyed parent as the gene isnt in them!

False. It is entirely possible for 2 blue eyed parents to have brown eyed children. Not likely, but not impossible either.
 

funboy6942

Lifer
Nov 13, 2001
15,308
393
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I have Green, my older brother has blue, my younger brother has brown, my wifes eyes are brown, and my son has blue so I am at a loss as where this was going. I stuck in that eye calculator thing our eye colrs and it says my sonswere to be brown. BS
 

DBL

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2001
2,637
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Originally posted by: funboy42
I have Green, my older brother has blue, my younger brother has brown, my wifes eyes are brown, and my son has blue so I am at a loss as where this was going. I stuck in that eye calculator thing our eye colrs and it says my sonswere to be brown. BS

You?re not using it correctly. If you are green and your wife brown, then depending on what green genes you have and what brown genes your wife has, it says blue is a definite possibility.
 

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
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aryan, blue/green. my ex swore my eyes were blue, they look green to me, says blue on my birth certificate but most people say my eyes are green
 

stnicralisk

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2004
1,705
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Originally posted by: stnicralisk
Originally posted by: miri
Since 2 blue eyed cacausians cannot have a brown eyed child and 2 brown eye parents can have a blue eyed child, even though blue eyes are recessive, it is rare to meet a caucasian with brown eyes. Poll is for caucasians only please.

I think you are mistaken about the way the genes work. If blue eyes is a recessive gene then it can be carried by someone who carries the dominate gene (brown?) therefor it should be possible to have a child with blue eyes but it would only occur a small % of the time.

EDIT: I misread it I read it backwards.

"he bey2 gene has two flavors - brown is dominant over blue. Each individual has two copies of this gene, each can be one of the flavors. The possible allele combinations for the bey2 gene are: brown-brown, brown-blue, and blue-blue. Of these three, the brown-brown and brown-blue combinations will both produce brown eyes, as brown is dominant over blue. Only the blue-blue combination will produce blue eyes."

Also I think the poll seems to show that brown dominate the ballz off of blue.

There are 3 known genes in eye color and some eye colors arent explained yet.

 

thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
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Originally posted by: miri
Since 2 blue eyed cacausians cannot have a brown eyed child and 2 brown eye parents can have a blue eyed child, even though blue eyes are recessive, it is rare to meet a caucasian with brown eyes. Poll is for caucasians only please.

WTF?

Brown eyes are the NORM. it's blue eyes that are rare. i've only known a couple of other people with blue eyes. i'm the only one in my family with blue eyes. i have 1 causcasian friend with blue eyes, and everyone else has brown. personally, i'm always surprised to see another set of blue eyes looking back at me.
 

ITJunkie

Platinum Member
Apr 17, 2003
2,512
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www.techange.com
Originally posted by: miri
Since 2 blue eyed cacausians cannot have a brown eyed child and 2 brown eye parents can have a blue eyed child, even though blue eyes are recessive, it is rare to meet a caucasian with brown eyes. Poll is for caucasians only please.

My wife has brown eyes and she is caucasian so I am not sure where you're getting your info. I have blue eyes and our daughter has greenish eyes and our son has blue eyes.
I probably just don't understand what you're saying :D
 

thomsbrain

Lifer
Dec 4, 2001
18,148
1
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Originally posted by: miri
Originally posted by: Davegod75
yeah WTF are you talking about. I think brown is the dominant color if i'm not mistaken

Brown is dominant but since 2 blue eyed parents cannot have a brown eyed child and 2 brown eye parents can have a blue eyed child it seems to make brown eyes rarer.

that only happens IF both parents have one blue and one brown gene.

possibilities for baby:

mom blue/dad brown: BROWN
dad blue/mom brown: BROWN
dad brown/mom brown: BROWN
mom blue/dad blue: BLUE

a 75% chance of having brown eyed baby is not "rarer."

not only that, but if either parent has both brown genes, then the baby will have brown no matter what.

edit: i dunno anything about the "other factors," that's just what i was taught in high school.
 

renierh

Member
May 25, 2004
89
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it's simple:

blue is reccesive, so that means that someone who has blue eyes, MUST have 2 Blue eye genes. if two people with each two blue eye genes have a child, it cannot have anything else then blue eyes, because all 4 of the genes involved are blue.

if a person has brown eyes, he or she either has 2 genes for brown eyes, or 1 gene for brown and on for blue, it's impossible to tell. if both parents have one blue/one brown, there is a small chance that the child will have blue eyes (if the two blue genes from each side are passed on)

so although the genes may be 50/50 spread, brown eyes are more common.
 

djheater

Lifer
Mar 19, 2001
14,637
2
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Originally posted by: J Heartless Slick
Originally posted by: miri
Originally posted by: Davegod75
yeah WTF are you talking about. I think brown is the dominant color if i'm not mistaken

Brown is dominant but since 2 blue eyed parents cannot have a brown eyed child and 2 brown eye parents can have a blue eyed child it seems to make brown eyes rarer.

Assuming eye color is determined by a single gene:

It's not Link
Eye color: The color of the iris. The genetics of eye color are complicated. Eye color is polygenic. It is determined by multiple genes. The eye color genes include EYCL1 (a green/blue eye color gene located on chromosome 19), EYCL2 (a brown eye color gene) and EYCL3 (a brown/blue eye color gene located on chromosome 15). There are clearly other genes that influence eye color. The once-held view that blue eye color is a simple recessive trait has been shown to be wrong. The genetics of eye color are so complex that almost any parent-child combination of eye colors can occur.


Freshman biology classes still teach the old way because it makes for an interesting and 'real life' example of how genetics work. But it's PATENTLY wrong.

:)
 

DBL

Platinum Member
Mar 23, 2001
2,637
0
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Originally posted by: thomsbrain
Originally posted by: miri
Originally posted by: Davegod75
yeah WTF are you talking about. I think brown is the dominant color if i'm not mistaken

Brown is dominant but since 2 blue eyed parents cannot have a brown eyed child and 2 brown eye parents can have a blue eyed child it seems to make brown eyes rarer.

that only happens IF both parents have one blue and one brown gene.

possibilities for baby:

mom blue/dad brown: BROWN
dad blue/mom brown: BROWN
dad brown/mom brown: BROWN
mom blue/dad blue: BLUE

a 75% chance of having brown eyed baby is not "rarer."

not only that, but if either parent has both brown genes, then the baby will have brown no matter what.

Not true. Look at the links posted as well as the calculator. Eye color is more complicated than in your example
 

TStep

Platinum Member
Feb 16, 2003
2,460
10
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Originally posted by: Kenazo
I have greeny/blue eyes, my wife has brown. Though both her parents have blue eyes. I thought that wasn't possible.
Time for a paternity test?