Blue eyes a majority in the UK, except Wales and the South.

[Longbowman]

And when green eyes are included, we're an overwhelming majority.

However in the South of England, including East Anglia, they are significantly less common, particularly in Southwest England (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset) and Wales.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/blue-eyes-are-more-common-any-other-colour-britain-1463258


Blue eyes are now more common in Britain that any other colour, scientists have revealed. And it's likely it is because Brits find the colour more sexually alluring than brown or green eyes.

The Blue Eyes Project has found that although all eyes in Britain were once brown, they are now 48% blue, 30% green and just 22% brown.

Although there are no direct physical advantages to having blue eyes, such as better eyesight, the overwhelming change of eye colour from brown to blue has been a cross-Europe phenomenon.

“Blue eyes are like the peacock's tail. It doesn't confer any evolutionary advantage for the peacock except that it gets him more mates.”
- Alistair Moffat, ScotlandsDNA
Alistair Moffat, managing director of ScotlandsDNA, which carried out the research, told The Times: "A lot of people think blue eyes are much rarer than they are."

He suggested one reason for their dominance is that blue eyes are recognised as being more attractive and so people seek out those with blue eyes as potential mates. Moffat said: "It may be that all blue eyes are like the peacock's tail. It doesn't confer any evolutionary advantage for the peacock, except that it gets him more mates."

The study mapped eye colour across the UK and Ireland and found that Scottish and Irish people are more likely to have blue eyes than in other parts of the UK, particularly the south.

Just over a third (35%) of the population of south-west England and 41% in east England have blue eyes, compared to 57% in southeast Scotland.

Beauty in a genetic mutation

Blue eyes are the result of a variant in the HERC2 gene, which, when it mutates, switches off the supply of brown-eye forming melanin, researchers say. Green eyes are also a result of this change, because they arise from a combination of the blue variant with brown.

The first gene mutation resulting in blue eyes is understood to have occurred in the Baltic region around 10,000 years ago.

Hans Eiberg, a scientist from the Univesity of Copenhagen, who made the discovery said: "Blue eyes are more attractive to potential partners than brown. One mutation 10,000 years ago has today resulted in almost 200 million pairs of blue eyes, and people with blue eyes have more children.

"Blue eyes are seen as powerful. I have recently been in China and in the temples there all the gods are painted with blue eyes, but everyone else has dark eyes."

Eiberg continues: "There is something attractive about blue eyes, maybe because they used to be so rare."

Alistair Moffat has another theory: "Because of the way blue eyes deal with light, they appear to have inherited a natural sparkle. Dark coloured eyes, the various shades of brown, are able to absorb longer and shorter wavelengths and therefore they appear not to reflect it. They don't seem to sparkle."

But some believe blue eyes could one day become less desirable as they are seen as 'the norm' in Britain. Dr Jim Wilson, chief scientific officer at the Blue Eyes Project said: "If rarity makes a feature more attractive then it could be that this process is reversed. If blue eyes pre-dominate in Europe then brown eyes might become more desirable."

[Heart of Oak]

I believe that the Blue eye colouring may be a result of genetic evolution from sexual attraction, I myself (the sexiest man alive) have noticed a change in eye colouring in my short life span, my earliest memories of eye colour where brown/green. 50 years on an now most British people from the south have Blue/Green eye colouring.

My eyes if interested are Blue with a gold band around the iris...

[Graham]

30% green seems awfy high. Eyes like mine must be seen as green to them.

[Jackson]

30% green seems awfy high. Eyes like mine must be seen as green to them.

They must be including a lot of blue with some green into the green category, and using mostly or just blue eyes as blue. Makes sense though, more Mediterranean admixture = less blue eyes. South v north.

[Styrian Mujo]

Nothing new.

[Balmung]

These studies go so back and forth i'm getting whiplash and they always contradict each other.

- Blue eyes more attractive and desirable
- Women prefer brown eyed men
- Women pick out males with brown eyes as more masculine when compared to blue
- Brown eyed men seen as sexually attractive, and more prone to being aggresive
- Blue eyed men more trustworthy
- Brown eyed men more trustworthy
- Blue eyed men preference for marriage, brown eyed men preference for sexual encounters

When will it end! damn journalist.

[Styrian Mujo]

These studies go so back and forth i'm getting whiplash and they always contradict each other.

- Blue eyes more attractive and desirable
- Women prefer brown eyed men
- Women pick out males with brown eyes as more masculine when compared to blue
- Brown eyed men seen as sexually attractive, and more prone to being aggresive
- Blue eyed men more trustworthy
- Brown eyed men more trustworthy
- Blue eyed men preference for marriage, brown eyed men preference for sexual encounters

When will it end! damn journalist.
Blue eyes are more attractive period.

[Jackson]

These studies go so back and forth i'm getting whiplash and they always contradict each other.

- Blue eyes more attractive and desirable
- Women prefer brown eyed men
- Women pick out males with brown eyes as more masculine when compared to blue
- Brown eyed men seen as sexually attractive, and more prone to being aggresive
- Blue eyed men more trustworthy
- Brown eyed men more trustworthy
- Blue eyed men preference for marriage, brown eyed men preference for sexual encounters

When will it end! damn journalist.

That means, nobody has a bloody clue but it makes good news. xD

[Longbowman]

Blue eyes are more attractive period.

Objective truth from the mouth of the God-King Zachary Hale Comstock.

The reality is green eyes are the most attractive, period ;)

[Balmung]

Blue eyes are more attractive period.

Well everyone has their preference. IMO it might hold more true for females though. Poles, Russian & Scandinavian women are adored by caucasian males. That seems to be the consensus. However its a complete reversal when it comes to males with Spain and Italy probably being the two most praised countries by women. Here our females don't even know the first thing about football but they watch it for Ronaldo :lol:

[Anomander Rake]

40%-60% of Europe's population is blue eyed, so let's say half = 350 million pairs of blue eyes. That's just in Europe. About 20% of Argentina are blue eyed (another 8 million or so), a lot of people of northern Iraq and northern Iran have blue eyes, a lot of people in Turkey have blue eyes too, same goes for Afghanistan. In Israel, there are about 25% blue eyes (or 2 million people).
Ashkenazi Jews have the same average of central and eastern Europe of blue eyes (50%), and there are about 2.5 "pure" AJ in Israel. Sepharadis have about 20% blue eyes, and there are something like 2.5 "pure" SJ in Israel. another 1.5 million "hybrids" with a third to 40% blue eyes (lets say 500K) = about 2 million people with blue eyes (more take than give, I rather rounded the number downwards than upwards).

Not talking about the 25%-30% blue eyes in the US (lets say 80 million) and a lot of blue eyed people in south America and some in north Africa.

I would say there is 400 million people with blue eyes in the world (give or take, and again - more take).

[Tooting Carmen]

This is not news.

[Raven_]

Well everyone has their preference. IMO it might hold more true for females though. Poles, Russian & Scandinavian women are adored by caucasian males. That seems to be the consensus. However its a complete reversal when it comes to males with Spain and Italy probably being the two most praised countries by women. Here our females don't even know the first thing about football but they watch it for Ronaldo :lol:

Southerners are known for being more social and quicker at showing attention than northerners.

[Graham]

We should get a better detailed map hopefully like what they'd done with the ginger gene. It's the same people again with the project.

Red hair potentially is strongest in SE Scotland, liked with the light skin & freckles. Now that blue eyes are found more in SE Scotland than in South England also.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/24/article-2401346-1B7041FC000005DC-552_634x757.jpg

Here is where they are doing this stuff in connection, & a map that is on the site. But not quite sure exactly in how they got this or what exactly that it is..
http://www.scotlandsdna.com/products/blue-eyes.

[caviezel]

I bet they lumped this kind of greyish colour in the green eyes figure

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJwaV7a37O6rXcams4QZSQkIqiIEuxT ZFkg_oDqHyHK0x6B6zO

[Grace O'Malley]

Blue eyes have always been a majority in the British Isles. The places with a more 50/50 are Southern England and Wales. This is nothing new.

[Sandman]

Marked in blue are countries with a predominance of blue eyes.
Scandinavia, the Baltic States, British Isles, the Netherlands, Poland, Belarus, Germany is predominantly blue-eyed.
http://www.theapricity.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=42371&d=1388140643

[FeederOfRavens]

Isn't East Anglia one of the Blondest places in the isles?

[Catkin]

Isn't East Anglia one of the Blondest places in the isles?

I would have thought so too- I was surprised it was one of the areas with fewer blue eyes

[Smaug]

That's bullshite, brown eyes are superior.

[Peyrol]

They must be including a lot of blue with some green into the green category, and using mostly or just blue eyes as blue. Makes sense though, more Mediterranean admixture = less blue eyes. South v north.

Med admisture is low and very rare in all the british isles.
Less than 1 million of englismen can trace their roots to the roman colonists.

[Furnace]

Light eyes are a recessive trait, thus this article is just bullshit. The amount of light eyes will diminish over time with the influx of foreigners with dark eyes.

[FeederOfRavens]

Light eyes are a recessive trait, thus this article is just bullshit. The amount of light eyes will diminish over time with the influx of foreigners with dark eyes.

Not really

[Furnace]

Not really

Yes, really.

[FeederOfRavens]

Yes, really.

How would you know?

[Peikko]

Light eyes are a recessive trait, thus this article is just bullshit. The amount of light eyes will diminish over time with the influx of foreigners with dark eyes.
There is a possibility, that light eyed people will get more children than dark eyed people. Sexual preference and all...

[Furnace]

How would you know?

Because http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendelian_inheritance, did you skip elementary school?

[Graham]

Rare eyes are attractive. Blue eyes in a dark eyed population would be seen as attractive overall in the World. But In Northern Europe they're seen as normal & common, nothing special.

[Jackson]

Isn't East Anglia one of the Blondest places in the isles?

I remember on the 'Face of Britain' program that aired a while ago (accompanying the early stages of the POBI project i think) they found the same, that these areas were more Germanic but also had more dark eyes than average. I think probably the south and south-west has been darker eyed for a while as it both has more Neolithic input and of course is closer to areas with overall darker eyes than Britain as a whole.

[Jackson]

Rare eyes are attractive. Blue eyes in a dark eyed population would be seen as attractive overall in the World. But In Northern Europe they're seen as normal & common, nothing special.

I find dark brown eyes + light hair to be the most striking, although you don't see it much.

[Jackson]

Med admisture is low and very rare in all the british isles.
Less than 1 million of englismen can trace their roots to the roman colonists.

But in terms of overall Mediterranean admixture (autosomally) it is slightly higher in the south. In terms of a north-south divide throughout Europe, according to a recent paper looking at the triple origin (EEF, WHG, ANE) of modern Europeans, the English samples they had were about as northern as the Czech sample, but a bit more western (WHG). While the Scottish & Orcadian samples were more northern (although interestingly, the one from mainland Scotland was more WHG/ANE than from Orkney).

Yeah you are right it is pretty small, but basically wherever you go in Europe the more blue eyes there are the more WHG/ANE (western hunter-gather, ancient north Eurasian) people have, and the more brown eyes there are the more EEF (early European farmer) component people have. And of course if the aDNA is reliable, the WHG samples pretty much all had blue eyes, and the carriers of the EEF component had brown/dark eyes.

[armenianbodyhair]

And when green eyes are included, we're an overwhelming majority.

However in the South of England, including East Anglia, they are significantly less common, particularly in Southwest England (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset) and Wales.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/blue-eyes-are-more-common-any-other-colour-britain-1463258

Bullshit on the green eyes part. It's to rare to significantly change the statistics.

[Neon Knight]

Did they exclude modern immigrants? In any case:


The study mapped eye colour across the UK and Ireland and found that Scottish and Irish people are more likely to have blue eyes than in other parts of the UK, particularly the south.This gets rid of the belief that brown eyes are Celtic.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

I remember on the 'Face of Britain' program that aired a while ago (accompanying the early stages of the POBI project i think) they found the same, that these areas were more Germanic but also had more dark eyes than average. I think probably the south and south-west has been darker eyed for a while as it both has more Neolithic input and of course is closer to areas with overall darker eyes than Britain as a whole.

Immigrants have been coming into england for centuries, just at a much slower rate til now.

[Styrian Mujo]

Immigrants have been coming into england for centuries, just at a much slower rate til now.
And they were usually European or Jewish atleast before the 19. century.

[TJames]

Well...I don't know what's going on with my eyes then...mine are Blue/Green with a touch of Yellow around the Iris! Pretty weird I know....

[Ctwentysevenj]

I like blue eyes. Women with blue eyes look very attractive. Went out with a girl whom had a Austrian background, many years ago, and she had beautiful very bright blue eyes!

[Longbowman]

And they were usually European or Jewish atleast before the 19. century.

Until Empire Windrush in 1948, yes.

[Prisoner Of Ice]

Well...I don't know what's going on with my eyes then...mine are Blue/Green with a touch of Yellow around the Iris! Pretty weird I know....

There are separate genes for things like irises around eyes and 'starbursts'.

[Leon_C]

As a purebred southerner (Ok, maybe not purebred, still a southerner) I can attest to blue eyes being a majority in the south east at least, but even from my experience as far west of London as the Thames valley, the majority seem to have blue eyes, I'd say more so there than in the south east.

The only place I've really noticed a prevalence in hazel/ brown eyes would have been Wales (yet from my experience the northern Welsh seemed to have mostly blue to green/ hazel eyes). South Wales seemed to have a fairly even mix of light and dark eyes.

[Grace O'Malley]

Did they exclude modern immigrants? In any case:

This gets rid of the belief that brown eyes are Celtic.

Where did that come from anyway? Irish and Scots have always been predominantly blue eyed but dark hair is a bit more prevalent.

[LightHouse89]

Anyway so in East Anglia are they blue eyed more so than other eye colors? My dad and I both have brown eyes but that is due to French and Southern German admixture :(

[LightHouse89]

Where did that come from anyway? Irish and Scots have always been predominantly blue eyed but dark hair is a bit more prevalent.

Yes very true.

[Heart of Oak]

I believe Blue eye's to be the most attractive, however beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

[Neon Knight]

Where did that come from anyway? Irish and Scots have always been predominantly blue eyed but dark hair is a bit more prevalent.I think it comes from the simplistic assumptions that any people with blonde hair/blue eyes must have a nordic/germanic influence and that the original celts all tended to have dark looks.

[Neon Knight]

Anyway so in East Anglia are they blue eyed more so than other eye colors?Not so much that you would notice. The idea that SE English look more Germanic does not hold much water.


My dad and I both have brown eyes but that is due to French and Southern German admixture :(Not necessarily.

Bloody southern German wogs!

[Fire Haired]

Originating in the Baltic sea 6000-10000YBP? Blue eyes becoming popular independently across Europe? All British(does he mean humans) originally had brown(or just dark) eyes? I know this isn't important but I'm such a perfectionist I have to correct this miss information.

It's now common knowledge that blue eyes probably first became popular during the last ice age in west Europe(not during the Neolithic in the Baltic) in people like the ones who made the Lascaux cave paintings, and probably originated before the LGM somewhere in west Eurasia. It's old news that 4/4 Mesolithic west Euro samples have blue eyes, but now there's a new study that has revealed most west Europeans had blue eyes as far back as 11,000 years ago(probably even farther back) while east Europeans at that time had darker eyes(because of ANE ancestry). West Europeans evolved isolated during this time period and blue eyes I guess became their external signature, because their closest neighbors; heavily ANE east Euros and AME west Asians were mainly brown eyed.

[Fire Haired]

I believe Blue eye's to be the most attractive, however beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

I agree that's partially true, but we're not born clean slats. We all have similar tastes. In every way we're all very similar to each other, because we're all so closely related to each other and have the same instincts. Eye color is more up to people's personal opinon.

[Fire Haired]

These studies go so back and forth i'm getting whiplash and they always contradict each other.

- Blue eyes more attractive and desirable
- Women prefer brown eyed men
- Women pick out males with brown eyes as more masculine when compared to blue
- Brown eyed men seen as sexually attractive, and more prone to being aggresive
- Blue eyed men more trustworthy
- Brown eyed men more trustworthy
- Blue eyed men preference for marriage, brown eyed men preference for sexual encounters

When will it end! damn journalist.

Don't trust the journalist, read the source. People's own agenda corrupts their reasoning. I don’t see how one eye color is more masculine than another, and remember culture has a lot to do with what personality traits with associate with physical traits. It’s more about the person than his eye color. Unless you’re talking to someone or looking at them right in the eye you can’t see what eye color they have, it’s a pretty unnoticeable trait.

[Grace O'Malley]

I think it comes from the simplistic assumptions that any people with blonde hair/blue eyes must have a nordic/germanic influence and that the original celts all tended to have dark looks.

Yes it is a false assumption and annoying. People should know that groups of people aren't all generic. There is a range in all populations but the Irish and Scots have always been predominantly blue eyed so I wonder who is meant by Celts anyway?

[Heart of Oak]

I agree that's partially true, but we're not born clean slats. We all have similar tastes. In every way we're all very similar to each other, because Iwe're all so closely related to each other and have the same instincts. Eye color is more up to people's personal opinon.

Yes agreed, I believe people to be attracted to the colour of eyes as much as the colour of hair. People can be attracted to feet (Japan) as much as breasts or any other part of the female anatomy...

[LightHouse89]

Not so much that you would notice. The idea that SE English look more Germanic does not hold much water.

Not necessarily.

Bloody southern German wogs!

Well my ancestors from the UK come from Northern Ireland and East Anglia. Before NI though they came from Northern England. My mother on her Irish side has some Lowlander Scot too.... I found this when I traced surnames from family records. I have alot of western German ancestry, but it is unclear as to where one of my dad's german ancestors came from.

[Fire Haired]

Yes agreed, I believe people to be attracted to the colour of eyes as much as the colour of hair. People can be attracted to feet (Japan) as much as breasts or any other part of the female anatomy...

Show me a man who is more attracted to feet than breasts? Why do you think we're attracted to the same traits as so many other species are? Because It's instinct. Everything we do is one way or another instinct. I totally dis agree with people who assume humans don't have complete free will and are born with no traits at all.

[Heart of Oak]

Well my ancestors from the UK come from Northern Ireland and East Anglia. Before NI though they came from Northern England. My mother on her Irish side has some Lowlander Scot too.... I found this when I traced surnames from family records. I have alot of western German ancestry, but it is unclear as to where one of my dad's german ancestors came from.

I can show you many east Anglians that are Germanic, like myself who was born in Halesworth 15 miles from lowestoft the most easterly point in England, in fact the kingdoms of the east lasted longer than any other and are more Germanic sub nordid than most other parts of the British isles...

[Heart of Oak]

Show me a man who is more attracted to feet than breasts? Why do you think we're attracted to the same traits as so many other species are? Because It's instinct. Everything we do is one way or another instinct. I totally dis agree with people who assume humans don't have complete free will and are born with no traits at all.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kp7Ta4mkFk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrGZFkcsNFA

Just a couple of clips, millions of men in Japan worship feet they dislike breasts, maybe you should engage brain before mouth, I was agreeing with you, I too believe in free will, and have fought for it, and you have shown your traits, however I believe also that there is good in us all...

They bind little girls feet (very painful) too make them smaller...

[Septentrion]

And when green eyes are included, we're an overwhelming majority.

However in the South of England, including East Anglia, they are significantly less common, particularly in Southwest England (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset) and Wales.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/blue-eyes-are-more-common-any-other-colour-britain-1463258

Blue eyes are still the most common eye colour even in southern England and Wales, though not as common as in Ireland/Scotland.

[Neon Knight]

Blue eyes became more common because of rarity value in mate selection but that trend might later have gone into reverse in favour of darker eyes, so that's why brown never disappeared from the northern European gene pools.

[Rugevit]

Light eyes was the result of natural selection. There is a belief in some north European cultures that "dark eyes" cannot be trusted. ;)

[Heart of Oak]

I find that the majority of Celts have grey/blue eyes with a golden band around the Iris...

[Valmont]

Yet some of the most beautiful and famous English women have brown eyes. Interesting

http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/keira-knightley-01.jpg

http://images-cdn.moviepilot.com/image/upload/c_fill,h_1663,w_2494/t_mp_quality/bb1f41c779b62689a8bc5dc7824db057_large-emma-watson-s-single-again-so-here-s-a-reminder-of-what-she-s-looking-for-in-a-guy-jpeg-223650.jpg

http://forbairt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Audrey-Hepburn-Done.jpg

[Infinite]

Show me a man who is more attracted to feet than breasts? Why do you think we're attracted to the same traits as so many other species are? Because It's instinct. Everything we do is one way or another instinct. I totally dis agree with people who assume humans don't have complete free will and are born with no traits at all.

Me? Hahaha, im done with breasts

[Grace O'Malley]

I don't believe it has anything to do with sexual selection. I think it is just related to white skin and a lot of genes appear to piggy back on other more important traits. In Northern Europe and places like the British Isles there is very little sunlight and to avoid disabling conditions like rickets people needed to absorb as much Vitamin D as possible hence why skin became so light. Blue eyes are part of this package. Red hair is another trait that is due to very white skin. It's all related to Vitamin D absorption and that's my take on it. Places like the British Isles are one of the most sunlight depraved environments.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Europe_sunshine_hours_map.png

[Rugevit]

I don't believe it has anything to do with sexual selection. I think it is just related to white skin and a lot of genes appear to piggy back on other more important traits. In Northern Europe and places like the British Isles there is very little sunlight and to avoid disabling conditions like rickets people needed to absorb as much Vitamin D as possible hence why skin became so light. Blue eyes are part of this package. Red hair is another trait that is due to very white skin. It's all related to Vitamin D absorption and that's my take on it. Places like the British Isles are one of the most sunlight depraved environments.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Europe_sunshine_hours_map.png

If this is true, one needs to take into account the amount of light in dense woods in which people lived in the past.

[Septentrion]

Yes you are correct, but you forgot to add that truly fair or "truly white skin" is most common amongst the ethnic Brits and Irish, because the British Isles in the North Atlantic not only have little sunshine during the year, but also a lot more cloud cover than Scandinavian countries. So it was profitable for the ancestors of the Brits to have even a slightly more fair-skinned than in Scandinavia which absorbs faster the vital Vitamin D! That is where red hair comes IN, since red hair is more linked to truly white skin, freckling than any other hair color (blonde/brown/black) and people who carry one or two variants of the MC1R will be definitely pale-skinned. For example studies show that amongst the Irish, at least 75% are carriers of one variants of the MC1R. There you go, you have very fair-skinned population.

[Septentrion]

So what's your point? Brown eyes are still a minority among ethnic Brits and Irish and also other Northern Europeans. I think some of the most beautiful woman in the world have blue eyes. I know in France, the majority of ethnic French people have brown/hazel eyes, but in northern France (Normandie, Bretagne, Alsace, Nord, Pas-de-Calais, etc...) there is also a good ratio of blue-eyed people. However France is not even as blue-eyed as Southern England.

[Septentrion]

Isn't East Anglia one of the Blondest places in the isles?

Blondest doesn't always mean bluest-eyed. Ireland is more blue-eyed than most predominantly blond & light-haired countries of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. East Anglia is one of the blondest regions of England and is actually the lightest-haired(red+blond+light brown+auburn tones) of Great Britain since according to proper studies done recorded hair colours shows that approximately 80% of those whose origins are from East Anglia predominantly range from red through blonde to light or medium brown shades. In comparison to those of Wales who show 62% for the same range of colouring and 70% for the Scottish.

[Septentrion]

Where did that come from anyway? Irish and Scots have always been predominantly blue eyed but dark hair is a bit more prevalent.

Light hair (excluding dark brown & black shades)
East Anglia = 80%
Yorkshires (England) = 77%
Scotland = 70%
Ireland = 64%