Can two blue eyed people have a brown eyed child?

[Boudica]

Can two blue eyed people have a brown eyed child? I know this question has been discussed so many times, and I've read a variety of answers, so I figured I'd ask the masters of genetics (you all) for a clearer answer :) . Some people say it is absolutely impossible, others say it is slightly possible (1%), and others say it is not abnormal for it to happen. Please clarify this for me, lol.

[Ouistreham]

Yes, it is possible.
It depends of the man and woman's ancestry.

I have two friends in Rome, Italy, both with origins from various parts of the country. Both share remarkably clearer features than their own parents, both blue-eyed, the woman being a natural blonde. They had a child with black hair and eyes. There are a number of similar instances I'm aware of.

Remember that besides the laws of inheritance and the predictable probabilities they describe there is a general trend of return to the average (a deselecting drift) within a given genetic pool. For blue-eyed parents, the risk of having a brown-eyed would be nearly non existent for pure breed Swedes, but fairly high for pure Spaniards.

Things in human genetics are a little less simple than with Gregor Mendel's peas.

[jerney]

Yes, but I'm pretty sure it has something to due to some mutation on the blue eyed gene and it's pretty rare

[mymy]

Yes, I know few examples. I think it depends on genetic background of parents.

[Nurzat]

my paternal grandparents are like this:
grandfather - ash blond hair + dark blue eyes
grandmother - dark brown hair + medium blue eyes
and their offspings are three brown-haired and one blond, two with blue eyes and two with brown eyes

on the maternal side they're all grey-eyed and except grandpa and my mom, blond

an uncle has a black-haired-black-eyed-mongol-vibe wife (but moldavian) and all his three boys are brown-haired-brown-eyed

on the other hand, my girlfriend has light eyes (a mix of blue and light brown) and is dark blond even if her both parents are dark brown-haired-brown-eyed

so there are both brown-eyed couples that have blue-eyed kids and blue-eyed ones that have brown-eyed kids. look further into the phenotypes of the grandparents and great-grandparents. also, having most of the family light-haired and light-eyed still doesn't assure you to have a light-haired-light-eyed kid (see me:D)

[Talvi]

Yes, both of my grandparents have light eyes, but my aunts eyes are brown. She probably got them from my grand grand mother who had brown eyes.

[Lábaru]

Of course they can, and two brown-eyed people can also have a child with blue eyes, I've seen both examples.

[Don Brick]

Yes of course, but the likeliness I suppose is much up to the ancestral background of the parents. Now I´m no expert with this stuff so please correct me if I´m wrong, but for instance Northern Europeans should surely be better "pre-programmed" to have light eyes than Southern Europeans.

So, for two blue-eyed (or in general light-eyed) Northern Europeans to have a brown-eyed offspring is indeed unlikely, but likewise it shouldn´t be too unusual for two brown-eyed Northern Europeans to have children with light eyes because no matter what color the parents´ eyes happen to be the genetic probability for light eyes is still firmly in tact. It works the same way, but the other way around for more southern Europeans of course...Hope this makes sense. :)

In my case, my mother being blue-eyed and my father greenish/bluish/something mix the probability for me to inherit blue eyes was 72 %, for green eyes 27 % and only 1 % for brown eyes so the odds were very much against having darker eyes. :wink

[Raikaswinþs]

my dad´s got grey-ish blue eyes, my mom has watery green eyes. Mine are hazel. I do resemble both my parents quite a lot tho and my sister too (we could pass for twins despite 5 years of difference ) so I can most certainly discard being adopted :P

[antonio]

Of course they can, and two brown-eyed people can also have a child with blue eyes, I've seen both examples.


But that's a way more probable possibility. As high as 25% if both have the recessive gen. The opposite is a kind of mutation...or an abnormal expression of the recessive gen.

[Lábaru]

But that's a way more probable possibility. As high as 25% if both have the recessive gen. The opposite is a kind of mutation...or an abnormal expression of the recessive gen.

I've seen two blue-eyed brothers with parents and grandparents with brown eyes.

[Blossom]

Well, myself, I got weird colored eyes, though my family (father side) got blue eyes, and mother side got greenish eyes. I got honey color eyes, with green and blue spots and stripes, pretty pretty unusual and weird.

So the same goes for blue-eyed ones, but ofc it doesnt depend just on parents eyes color, but in whole family genetics :) ...so even if you're blue eyed and so your wife/husband, there's always some chance to get a non-blue eyed kid.

I got a weird feeling that mines will own some nice blue eyes since its so damn common along my family...around 85% got blue eyes.

So yes, they can have a non-blue eyed child. :)

[Curtis24]

No :P

[antonio]

I've seen two blue-eyed brothers with parents and grandparents with brown eyes.

Check this out:

MA MA MA MA
...MA......MA
........AA

:thumb001:

I'm a Bachelor on Pure Sciences who still remember Biology. BTW I hate it.:D

[antonio]

[B]Well, myself, I got weird colored eyes, though my family (father side) got blue eyes, and mother side got greenish eyes. I got honey color eyes, with green and blue spots and stripes, pretty pretty unusual and weird.

My mother has green eyes and the mother of my father had blue ones. But mine are plain brown although not a dark one, maybe that's another genetic feature to be studied, the relative lightness of brown eyes because i guess there're people with almost black iris. :coffee: